Oshrenko murders: Natalia Karlick convicted of manslaughter

After plea bargain, prosecution and defense agree to recommend to the court that murder suspect's wife be sentenced to 13 years in jail.

By DAN IZENBERG
Natalia Karlick was convicted of one charge of manslaughter in the Central District Court in Petah Tikva on Thursday, after the attorneys for the prosecution and defense reached a plea bargain that cleared her of five other manslaughter charges.
The prosecution and defense agreed to recommend to the court that Karlick be sentenced to 13 years in jail.
The manslaughter charge was related to the murder of Edward Oshrenko by Karlick’s husband, Damian, who is still on trial, charged with the murder of six members of the Oshrenko family, including Edward and Ludmilla Oshrenko, their son Dimitri and his wife, Tatiana, and the couple’s two children, threeyear- old Rochelle and fivemonth- old Nathaniel.
The grizzly murder of the family on October 17, 2009, shocked the nation. Damian Karlick waited for the family until they returned to their Rishon Lezion home at around 5 a.m. from the Premier restaurant, also in the city, which they owned.
Karlick had worked for the Oshrenkos between 2005 and 2008, when he was fired after they suspected him of stealing alcohol. He stabbed each member of the family to death, including the baby, with a knife whose blade was 20-cm.
long and then set fire to the apartment.
Natalia and Damian Karlick were arrested and charged for the killings in a single indictment.
The husband was charged with murder and his wife with manslaughter.
Although she did not take part in the actual killings, the state accused her of conspiring with her husband to attack Dimitri, who had fired Damian, and robbing the family. According to the charge, Natalia had known in advance that her husband would kill all the members of the family.
Following negotiations between the prosecution and defense, the prosecution agreed to drop the manslaughter charges against Natalia Karlick regarding all of the victims except the patriarch of the family, Edward Oshrenko.
During Thursday’s hearing before Judges Avraham Tal, Ruth Lorch and Zvi Dotan, the prosecuting attorneys, Oded Keller and Tzahi Uziel, explained that as they became more convinced that Damian Karlick had gone to the Oshrenko house with the intention of killing the entire family, it became clearer that his wife was unaware of his plan and therefore could not foresee what would happen.
As for the killing of Edward Oshrenko, the prosecutors said, “there is still a certain difficulty but since, already from her first confession, the defendant talked about the fact that Edward was the object of the robbery that she had planned and because the amended charge against her talks about a violent robbery, it can be said that a reasonable person could have predicted the tragic outcome regarding Edward.”
Defense attorney Avi Cohen told the court he believed that if the trial had continued, he might very well have succeeded in clearing Natalia Karlick of all the manslaughter charges.
On the other hand, he continued, “We are all flesh and blood, including the members of the court, and before this court is a terrible incident, exceptionally terrible. There is an entire family that lost their lives, six human beings including two small children.
We figured that no matter what the dry legal outcome of the manslaughter charge might be, it would still be very hard for the court to ignore the horrific thing that happened here.”
In pleading that the court accept the sentence agreed upon by the prosecution and defense, Natalia Karlick said, “I am very sorry for what happened and I want to express my apology from the depths of my heart. There are no words to say this, to the family, also to Yana [Dimitri Oshrenko’s sister who did not live with the rest of the family], to the parents, the sisters, everyone. God knows I had no idea of what would happen. I am very sorry toward you and to those attending the trial. I have been severely punished. I punish myself, and all the time I punished myself even more. I have also in essence lost my daughter and my family.
I am very, very sorry.”
Karlick was also convicted of conspiracy to commit a crime, robbery and destroying evidence.
She will be sentenced on November 22.