Last update - 00:00 03/10/2006
Bus driver who caused the deaths of 3 children convicted of manslaughter
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
The Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to impose an even severe conviction for a bus driver responsible for the deaths of three children than that issued earlier by a lower court.
Yosef Shalom was involved in a deadly bus crash at the Kfar Yona junction in June 2004.
He was originally convicted in Tel Aviv District Court of causing death by negligence. On Tuesday, however, the Supreme Court convicted Shalom of manslaughter on Tuesday.
Following their ruling, the Supreme Court justices returned the case to the district court level for sentencing.
"The driver took unreasonable risks while endangering the lives of the children on his school bus and the lives of passengers in other vehicles in the junction," the court said. "Such behavior is a meaningful and significant deviation from reasonable norms."
On June 30, 2004, Shalom was driving a bus belonging to the Emek Hefer Regional Council carrying 68 children between the ages of seven and 13. Shalom drove into the Kfar Yona junction and crashed into an Israel Defense Forces jeep. The collision caused the bus to veer left, pile up on a traffic island, cross into a lane of on-coming traffic and overturn.
Three children were killed in the crash: Dekel Rosenfeld, 7; her sister Lotam Rosenfeld, 10; and Aviv Katz, 12. Fifty-five other children were injured in the crash alone with two soldiers in the IDF jeep. Shalom was also hurt.
In July 2005, a district court acquitted Shalom of the charge of manslaughter and sentenced him to 21 months in prison and 15 months probation for causing death by negligence. His license was revoked for a period of ten years.