Man who choked sister during argument convicted of murder

Anis Amas pretended to be mentally ill after admitting to killing his sister Tanaya after an argument.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
311_gavel (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
311_gavel
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
A panel of three judges in the Haifa District Court convicted a man of murder on Monday for strangling his sister during an argument.
According to the indictment, 22-year-old Anis Amas of Jisr az-Zarka killed his sister Tanaya Amas last October, when she refused to lend him NIS 200.
When Amas became angry at Tanaya’s refusal, she became frightened and shouted at him to leave her alone.
At that point, Amas decided to kill Tanaya, beating her with his fists, choking her and slamming her head against the wall, the indictment said.
When Amas’s mother heard the shouts, she tried to enter Tanaya’s bedroom but Amas slammed the door and prevented her from entering. He then resumed choking his sister.
When he was sure Tanaya was dead, Amas went to his grandfather’s house to freshen up and then carried on with his normal routine. He was arrested while waiting for a bus to Or Yehuda, according to the indictment.
In court, Amas’s defense attorneys argued that he was not responsible for his actions after a psychiatric report deemed him unfit to stand trial.
Amas’s defense centered on claims that he had not intended to kill his sister.
Under Israeli law, a murder charge requires that a killing be premeditated, not spontaneous.
‘Spur of the moment’ killings carry the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Amas also claimed to suffer from impulse control and said he had suffered brain damage after falling on his head as a child.
However, the court dismissed these arguments, and said that Amas’s medical records did not document such a fall.
The judges accepted the expert testimony of psychiatrists at Sha’ar Menashe hospital, who said Amas was not mentally ill.
In ruling that Amas was guilty of murder, the judges noted that when he was asked by investigators to explain exactly when he decided to kill Tanaya, he admitted it was when the girl shouted.
“I gave her a slap and she wanted to get up, but I wouldn’t let her and I strangled her,” Amas told police investigators.
“The central and true motive for killing [Tanaya] was the injury to his honor when she snapped back at him in anger – because in his words, women don’t shout in his house,” Judge Yosef Elron said.