The family of Ahuvya Sandak z”l, who was killed in the course of a police chase almost a year ago, has appealed to the State Prosecution Service, demanding that it speed up the process of bringing to justice those responsible for Ahuvya’s death.
The Sandak family is being aided by the Honenu organization in making the appeal to State Prosecutor Amit Eisman. Honenu’s letter, written by attorney Ariel Etry, highlights the distress caused to the Sandak family at the apparent lack of progress in seeing that the police officers involved in the tragic incident pay the price for their actions, and also notes the inconsistencies in the accounts of the police officers obtained following Ahuvya’s death.
“From the very beginning, the family had grave doubts regarding the way in which the investigation was being conducted,” Etry writes. “Due to the fact that both the police investigations bureau and police investigators themselves were involved, there was a built-in concern that information would leak to the police involved in the incident. Moreover, it seems indisputable that the police officers involved provided, initially, a version of events that concealed their damage to the vehicle [in which Sandak was traveling] and only later was a different version born.”
“It appears that the hands of the police were not clean – they should not have given conflicting versions of the events,” the letter continues. “Furthermore, it is difficult to ignore the fact that the change in their versions of the events was made after the police officers involved were given the opportunity to coordinate their accounts.”
According to Etry, the Sandak family is being caused immense suffering due to the delay in implementing justice. “Our Sages have told us that ‘the sword comes into the world due to delays in implementing justice.’ Delayed justice is not just a matter of harming the suspect – in fact, it is seven times harder for the victim who waits to see justice served.
“For the parents of Ahuvya, there is no rest, no day and no night,” Etry continues. “All they can do is wait until a decision is made that will enable the persons responsible for the death of their beloved son to be brought to justice. Of course they realize that this is a complicated and sensitive matter, and yet, enough time has passed since the conclusion of the interrogations to interpret the findings.”
In conclusion, Etry writes that, “In light of all of the above, we ask of your honor to hasten the procedure for bringing those responsible for Ahuvya’s death to justice.”