Woman awarded almost NIS 1m. after assault

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
The Haifa District Court has ordered a man convicted of having sexually assaulted a young woman to pay her almost NIS 1 million in compensation, reports www.local.co.il. A judge ruled that there could be no question about the duty of the man to compensate his victim for the mental and physical anguish he had caused her. According to the report, the attack occurred in August 1999, when the woman, then aged 25, was hitch-hiking from Nahariya to the Krayot. The man, then in his mid-40s, offered her a ride, but on the way stopped his car by the side of the road and forcibly fondled and groped her, ignoring her cries and pleas to stop. Eventually, she managed to open the car door and flee. In 2004, the man was convicted of sexual assault and was sentenced to nine months in jail, and was ordered to pay the woman NIS 4,000 in compensation. The woman appealed to the district court on the grounds that the assault had caused her permanent mental damage, and Judge Tamar Naot-Perry accepted her arguments. "In light of the fact that the acts described above were proven, there can be no [denying] the duty of the defendant to compensate the plaintiff for the bodily damage that was caused her following the attack," the judge said. She ordered the man to pay a total of almost NIS 1m. in compensation, comprising NIS 200,000 for the woman's lost earnings to date, NIS 600,000 for lost future earnings, NIS 150,000 for pain and suffering and as punitive compensation, and NIS 31,000 for medical expenses. The man was also ordered to pay more than NIS 90,000 in legal costs and NIS 5,500 for a medical expert's opinion.