Karp’s widow: Witnesses to husband’s killing also murderers

Sarah Karp tells court how youths "sat and laughed" as her husband was being killed by their friends.

By RON FRIEDMAN, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Karp 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Karp 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Sarah Karp, the widow of Arik Karp, who was beaten to death two years ago on the Tel Aviv promenade, accused the four youths who witnessed the killing of her husband of murder.
Testifying in the pre-sentencing hearing of the four, who were convicted in March of failure to prevent a felony, Karp told the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court how they “sat and laughed,” as her husband was being killed by their friends.
“It is murder. If they had prevented this murder we would not be sitting here today,” said Karp. “No one used their cellphone to try and call for help...I begged for their help and no one tried to help me.”
Karp said she was convinced that all four of the witnesses, Or Levi, Fadi Jabar, Fuad Mussa and Muhammad Ades, actively participated in the beating of her husband, even though the court convicted only three others of actually administering the beating that led to his death.
The four confessed in a plea bargain to being at the site, and not preventing three of their friends from beating Karp.
In May, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled that the three, Jamil Ades, 25, Abed El-Rahman Ades, 21, and a 17-year-old whose name cannot be reported, all residents of Jaljulya, killed Karp by beating him to death and leaving him to die in the sea. All three were convicted of manslaughter.
The maximum sentence for the offense of failure to prevent a felony is two years in prison – and though the prosecution didn’t ask for the maximum sentence, they argued that the four should indeed see the inside of a prison cell, and at the very least, serve six months of community service.
Tel Aviv District Attorney Menahem Mizrachi urged the court to hand out a severe sentence that would deter others from standing by at a scene of a crime. Mizrachi stressed that had they said or done anything things could have ended differently.
The four defendants’ defense lawyers objected to a active prison sentence, requesting that they be given probationary sentences only. They argued that though sentencing was never discussed formally in the plea bargain, there was an understanding that the threshold of punishment would be lower.