Hapoel Holon 'hooligan' receives 3 years in prison

Judge orders Malach to pay victim NIS 150,000 in compensation, calls defendant's behavior "hooliganism."

By ALLON SINAI
Hapoel firecracker 224.8 (photo credit: Asaf Kliger)
Hapoel firecracker 224.8
(photo credit: Asaf Kliger)
The 21-year-old Hapoel Holon supporter who threw the fire-cracker which exploded in the hands of security guard during a Hapoel Jerusalem league game against Holon at Malha Arena last November, was sentenced by the Jerusalem District Court to three years in prison on Monday. Security guard Yoav Glitzenstein lost two fingers as he attempted to clear the explosive device from the floor. Yossi Malach, who admitted to the charges and signed a plea bargain with the prosecution five months ago, had hoped not to be sent to jail. But Judge Nava Ben-Or handed Malach a prison sentence as well as a one year suspended sentence and ordered him to pay Glitzenstein NIS 150,000 in compensation. "The defendant's behavior wasn't an act of mischief, but of hooliganism and violence," Judge Ben-Or wrote in the verdict. "Glitzenstein is the one who will have to suffer the consequences for the rest of his life and the considerations of deterrence and retribution compel a severe punishment." "I will have this disability for the rest of my life and this isn't a happy day for me," Glitzenstein said in reaction to the verdict. "This is a message to all the children who come to the arenas with pyrotechnics. People must understand the consequences of what they do. This man ruined my life."