Drunken driving a factor in court's ruling on man who ran over Meital Aharonson.
By JPOST.COM STAFFMeital Aharonson 58(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday sentenced Shai Simon to 20 years behind bars for killing Meital Aharonson and seriously injuring Mali Yazdi in a Tel Aviv hit-and-run in October 2008.Shalom Yemini, who was in the car that was driven through a red light and hit the two women, was acquitted of manslaughter but found guilty of leaving the scene of an accident. He was sentenced to five years incarceration by Judge Tzvi Gurfinkel. Gurfinkel, who also found Simon guilty of destroying evidence anddriving under the influence of alcohol, said in his Thursday ruling:“It is time to declare that drivers under the influence of alcoholshould be deemed people shooting a gun indiscriminately.”Havoc erupted in the Tel Aviv courtroom upon hearing the judge’sruling. Simon’s father was ejected from the room after breaking out ina rage and accosting Liora Aharonson, Meital’s bereaved mother. He alsoyelled out at Yemini: “You are the real murderer!” Last week, the Tel Aviv District Court convicted 23-year-old Victor Lavi, the owner of a jeep involved in the hit-and-run. As part of a plea bargain, Lavi admitted that before his friends took his jeep and hit the young women, he had committed several offenses, including driving under the influence of alcohol, assaulting a policeman and escaping from legal custody.
