Haifa District Court sentences man who admits to committing violent acts against his girlfriend after she tried to break up with him.
By JOANNA PARASZCZUKarrest 311 R(photo credit: REUTERS/Eric Gaillard )
The Haifa District Court sentenced Khadar Taha, 30, a resident of Kabul, southeast of Acre, to 13 years in prison on Wednesday, after he admitted charges of abducting and stabbing his girlfriend, harm with aggravated intent, illegal possession of a knife, conspiracy for a felony and obstructing an investigation.Judge Hanny Horowitz said his sentence should “send a loud, clear message that violence against women will result in a long prison sentence, even for those with no prior convictions.”According to the indictment, Taha drove to his girlfriend’s workplace and asked her to talk to him. She agreed to get into his car, but instead of taking her to his house in Kabul, Taha took her to a dirt track where he stabbed her 18 times.Taha ordered her to tell the authorities she had been stabbed by a stranger. He also insisted the victim make a call from her cellphone to his, to give the impression she called him to help her. Only then did Taha call for an ambulance, but gave them false instructions about the woman’s location. Finally, he drove the injured woman to a gas station in Kabul, where she was met by paramedics and rushed to hospital.When Taha was arrested and held in remand, he asked his cellmate whether he knew anyone in the “mafia or criminal underworld” who could take revenge on his girlfriend by injuring her, the indictment said.In a victim impact statement in court, Taha’s victim said she now has a “phobia of all men,” and that she does not think she will ever get married.The court also ordered Taha to pay his victim NIS 120,000 compensation and handed down a further two years’ suspended sentence.
