Lawyers want 20 years in prison for Karp’s killers

Three slayers deserve maximum sentence for ‘brutal, vicious attack,’ Tel Aviv prosecutor says.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
Karp 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Karp 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Prosecutors on Sunday asked the Tel Aviv District Court to sentence the three men convicted of killing Arik Karp to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutor Menahem Mizrahi of the Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office asked the court for the maximum sentence to be given to Jamil Ades, 25, Abed al-Rahman Ades, 21, and a 17-year-old, who as a minor cannot be named, the three Jaljulya residents who beat Karp, 59, to death two years ago on northern Tel Aviv’s Tel Baruch beach in front of his wife and daughter.
In April, judges pronounced the three defendants guilty of manslaughter – not murder – after they said the prosecution had failed to prove that the three had intended to kill Karp.
Speaking to the court on Sunday, Mizrahi said the killing was a “brutal and vicious attack.
“There was no provocation from [Karp],” he continued.
“They did not stop beating him even when they were begged to do so. They showed contempt for human life.”
Mizrahi said the oldest defendant, Jamil Ades, could have taken responsibility and told the others to stop the attack, but he did not.
“There was no excuse for their behavior,” he said. “We ask for the highest penalty.”
The maximum penalty for manslaughter is 20 years.
Attorneys for the three defendants presented to the court arguments for a much lighter punishment.
Attorney Moshe Maroz, representing Jamil Ades, said the maximum jail term should not be given in this case because the killing was not premeditated.
He reminded the court that when Ades was informed of Karp’s death he asked repeatedly whether it was really true.
The attorney also said Ades expressed remorse for his actions.
“Even now he does not understand how he could have done what he did that night,” he said.
Maroz also told the court that cases where the maximum penalty of 20 years has been imposed usually involve the use of weapons. In this case, no weapons were used, he said.
“When someone uses a weapon such as a knife there’s more of an expectation that [an attack] will result in death,” he said.
Attorney Gil Friedman, representing Abed al-Rahman Ades, asked the court to take into account that Abed has a limited understanding of what happened because he suffered from brain damage following a childhood accident and has a very low IQ.
“[Abed] is not like a normal person, he has problems,” Friedman said.
Abed and the 17-year-old defendant whispered together and grinned at each other throughout the hearing.
Jamil Ades, who sat apart from the other two defendants, later made a statement to the court in which he expressed his remorse.
“I know what it is like to lose a father and I am very sorry for what happened,” he said.
The other two defendants declined to make statements to the court.
Earlier in the hearing, Arik Karp’s widow, Sara, presented evidence before a closed court.
Both Sarah and her daughter Anataliya left the court without hearing the defense’s arguments for a lighter sentence.
After the hearing, attorney Asher Chen, who represents the 17-year-old, told The Jerusalem Post that a lighter jail sentence of eight or nine years imprisonment is appropriate in this case because the killing was not premeditated.
“[My client] was a minor, they were under the influence of alcohol and they didn’t know what the outcome of their actions would be,” said Chen. “They didn’t think it would result in death.”
The court is expected to pass sentence on the three defendants within two months.
If the court does decide on a jail term that is less than the maximum, it is likely to cause controversy.
The verdict of manslaughter – unpremeditated killing – in the Karp case provoked outrage in April, partly because the maximum penalty for manslaughter is much lighter than that for murder, which can be punished with a life sentence.
After the verdict was issued, a legal panel led by Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem submitted recommendations to Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman proposing changes to the criminal statutes to incorporate two murder offenses: premeditated murder, and murder under aggravated circumstances, including cruelty or abuse, such as in the Karp case.