Last update - 00:00 25/01/2007
17-year-old given life sentence for 2005 murder of Rehovot teen
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent
The Tel Aviv District Court sentenced a 17-year-old boy on Thursday to life in prison for the 2005 murder of 15-year-old Rehovot resident Ma'ayan Sapir.
The boy is the youngest criminal in Israel to ever receive a life sentence.
The young man was also convicted of raping the victim, and was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison, to be served concurrently.
In November 2006 the minor was convicted after the presiding judges rejected the defense attorney's claim that the boy was temporarily insane at the time of the murder due to consumption of alcohol and the sniffing of contact cement vapors. The temporary insanity claim was refuted by a witness who testified to having seen the boy with the victim and having spoken to him.
The murder occurred on May 27, 2005 while the boy was on weekend leave from a closed ward of a facility for criminal youth.
That evening, Sapir left her home and set off in the direction of the city mall just a few hundred meters away. As Sapir was walking, she was met by a the youth who lured her into the grounds of a nearby abandoned school. In a dark corner under a large tree, the boy, who was 16 at the time, raped Sapir and strangled her to death.
The youth was arrested and later confessed to the murder.
The boy did not tell investigators why he murdered Sapir. Police said he appeared confused and only provided them with scattered bits of information.
The defense presented expert testimony of a clinical criminologist who testified that the youth was operating under hallucinations at the time of the murder and could not "tell the difference between right and wrong."
Following his arrest, the boy pretended to stutter and suffer from involuntary tics. However, the investigators exposed the "charade" after he was spotted acting normal when he thought he wasn't being watched.
After the investigation, police said that despite his young age, the suspect is a "veteran criminal" who has accumulated a multitude of drug, violence and property-related charges.
Sapir was an outstanding student, and was active on the student council and in volunteer activities.