Last update - 00:00 17/06/2007
Man held for murder of Arab cab driver ruled unfit to stand trial
By Nir Hasoon, Haaretz Correspondent
Julian Soufir, accused of murdering taxi driver Taysir Kariki in Tel Aviv in May has been ruled unfit to stand trial according to a psychiatric evaluation presented to the Tel Aviv regional court on Sunday.
The evaluation, which was written by three psychiatrists at the Abarbanel Hospital ruled that at the time of the murder Soufir was in a psychotic state and was not aware of his actions. The evaluation also ruled that Soufir is today still in a psychotic state and therefore unfit to stand trial.
Prosecutors have announced that they intend to examine the evaluations in order to possibly appeal the court's ruling and force Soufir to stand trial for his offenses.
Family member of Kariki's who were present at the time of the ruling erupted in outrage shouting at the Judges that the ruling was a case of discrimination.
An attorney for the Kariki family Mayson Zahalkha said that "they were outraged and fear that he [Soufir] will not receive the punishment he deserves. The way he planned and carried out the murder show that he was fully aware of what he was doing, and his nationalist intentions for doing so only further illustrate this point."
Zahalkha added that "If this was a case of an Arab murdering a Jew, we would never have seen a ruling like this in regard to the mental or emotional state of the accused."
Last week Zahalkha petitioned the High Court of Justice to gain access to the full contents of the police investigation of the murder, including the psychiatric evaluation.
The indictment against Soufir reads that on May 14 Soufir hailed a cab driven by an Arab driver and had him take him to Netanya. When they arrived at Soufir's apartment, Soufir said he had to run upstairs to grab some money, and he returned to the car concealing a knife he had taken from the apartment. Soufir then asked Kariki to take him to Tel Aviv.
According to the indictment, after arriving at the apartment, Soufir invited Kariki to come upstairs so he could use the bathroom and give him something to drink. The driver entered the bathroom in the apartment, and after he came out, Soufir was waiting for him with the knife he had taken from the apartment in Netanya.
The indictment reads that "when the victim exited the bathroom, the accused stabbed him in his neck and back 24 times with the intent to kill."
Soufir then stole NIS 60 from the driver's pocket as well as the keys to the taxi.
The indictment ruled that the murder was carried out for nationalistic and racist motives, and because of the hatred of the accused towards Arabs.
In his confession to police, Soufir said that when he stabbed Kariki, he "didn't feel anything, it was like slaughtering an animal. That's all the Arabs are, they have no soul."