Last update - 00:00 10/07/2007
Prosecutors to offer plea bargain in Jaffa murder, kidnapping case
By Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondent
State prosecutors on Tuesday announced plans to sign a plea bargain with the five defendants in a Jaffa murder-kidnapping case known as the "Benny the fisherman affair."
The prosecution's decision was received two days after they were ordered by the Tel Aviv district court to reveal the identity of one of the central witnesses in the case. The refusal to do so in the previous trial of the five defendants in January led to their acquittal.
Following Tel Aviv District Court's January release of the suspects, the prosecution appealed to the Supreme Court, whose justices approved the appeal and told the District Court to reopen the trial to hold a further hearing on the issue of the source's identity.
The lower court ordered the prosecution three weeks ago to reveal the name of its source, but prosecutors and police came to the conclusion that they could not ensure security for the witness, and decided to pursue a plea bargain in order to avoid having to reveal his identity and jeopardize his life.
The case has brought calls for an official police framework to provide security for witnesses. Critics claim that if such a program were in place today, the prosecution could have revealed the witnesses identity and proceeded with the case without having to settle on a plea bargain.
The counts of the new indictment have still not been finalized, but as part of the plea bargain they will include sentences of no more than 6 years imprisonment for any of the defendants.
The victim in the murder-kidnapping case is Khader Daka, who was killed in July 2005 and allegedly mediated in a dispute between the owners of Benny Hadayag, a fish restaurant in the old Tel Aviv port, and a Gaza fisherman. According to the charge sheet, the suspects were Jaffa-based hit men allegedly hired to kill Daka.
The prosecution charged Izzat Hamad, its main suspect, and head of Jaffa's largest crime gang, with murdering Daka because of his arbitration in the dispute.
The indictment said Hamad met Daka and his cousin, Aslam Daka, on July 16, 2005. Hamad and four friends attacked and bound the two and put them into the boot of a car. Daka and his cousin managed to escape, but the assailants chased them, shooting and killing Daka. Aslam escaped.