Tulkarem resident convicted in 2012 murder of Israeli man

According to court, Amar Abu Dakah stabbed Yitzhak Elgabi in his chest with a screwdriver when Elgabi interrupted him and two others seeking to rob his house.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Updated: MARCH 3, 2016 23:47
Gavel [Illustrative] (photo credit: INIMAGE)
Gavel [Illustrative]
(photo credit: INIMAGE)
The Lod District Court on Thursday convicted a Tulkarm man in the 2012 murder of Yitzhak Elgabi in the town of Avihayil, near Netanya.
The court said that on October 22, 2012, Amar Abu Dakah stabbed Elgabi in the chest with a screwdriver as he and two others were trying to rob his house.
One of the other defendants previously cut a plea bargain deal with the state, leading to a lenient 13-year prison sentence.
The group broke into a number of homes in the area besides Elgabi’s, with the intention to steal.
Abu Dakah stabbed Elgabi after he grabbed onto the thief’s shirt to try to prevent the crime and prevent his escape.
After Abu Dakah stabbed Elagbi in the chest, another one of the thieves stabbed him in the head with another screwdriver.
Abu Dakah had admitted to breaking into Elgabi’s house and struggling with him, but claimed he succeeded in escaping, did not stab him and did not see who stabbed him.
Ultimately, the court found that the accounts of the other perpetrators and the inconsistencies in Abu Dakah’s accounts doomed his denial.
It also found that the size and type of the screwdriver he was wielding when he broke into Elgabi’s residence showed he was ready to inflict a mortal blow if he met resistance, even if he was not expecting to be interrupted by Elgabi, who had been out of the house for some time.
It took almost a year before the police had a breakthrough, which lead to the solving of the murder.