Last update - 00:00 19/02/2008
Driver responsible for 3 deaths gets only 3 years in jail
By Haaretz Service
Netanya's Traffic Court ruled on Tuesday that 24-year-old Yonatan Sobinsky, who was indicted for three counts of manslaughter while driving under the influence of illegal drugs, will serve a three-year prison sentence, pay a NIS 36,000 fine, and have his license revoked for 40 years.
In May 2006, Sobinsky's car hit another vehicle at the Bnei Dror junction. Three people were killed in the crash: Roi and Ilan Batiya, 28-year-old cousins from Moshav Azriel, and Keren Marwati, 26, from Tel Mond. Two other people were seriously hurt in the collision.
Roi and Keren were engaged, and were planning to get married three months later.
Police assumed that Roi, Keren, and two other friends-Liran and Hila- were on their way home from an outing in their Volkswagen. It is believed that Liran was driving the vehicle. Shortly before arriving at the entrance to Moshav Bnei Dror, their car crashed head on with Sobinsky's Renault. Due to extensive damage sustained by both vehicles, police were unable to determine which of the cars had deviated from its lane and caused the collision.
Judge Yehoshuah Halevi wrote in the ruling that the accident was a "direct result of the behavior and state of mind of the defendant, and the evil power of the drugs in his body... He created grave danger by driving a vehicle while on drugs, and this factor put him in a situation in which he took a conscious risk and he was aware, and therefore should have anticipated and expected any possibility... the driving was not only negligent but also rash."
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