The 24-year-old boyfriend of Yarin Maoul, 19, who was killed together with her sister Tahel, 17, in a road accident early Thursday morning, arrived Sunday evening at the Maoul family home to express his condolences, Israel Hayom reported.
The young man was reported seriously injured in the crash, though later reports claimed he was only moderately injured. He was hospitalized at Ashkelon's Barzilai Medical Center. It is not clear if he has been officially released.
He is considered to be a suspect in the car crash, since investigators are unclear about who was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash.
However, he told the family that he was not driving the vehicle, since he had been drinking alcohol prior to the trip, Israel Hayom added. In his testimony to Israel Police, the suspect said that he drank alcohol at a friend's wedding, and does not remember anything after he entered the vehicle. He also told interrogators that since he drank a significant amount of alcohol, he had Yarin bring him to his home in Ashkelon.
The family greeted him warmly and told him: "It doesn't matter who was driving. We are people of faith, and if this is what happened, it's all according to G-d's will."
"I don't know how I'll continue living after the accident," he told the Maoul family. "I don't remember anything, because I drank at the event. I told Yarin not to come pick me up, that I would take a taxi - but she insisted."
A third sister, 14-year-old Adel, was seriously injured in the crash and is currently hospitalized in Be'er Sheva's Soroka Medical Center. She is currently sedated and on a respirator, and the family has asked the public to pray for Adel bat (daughter of) Ronit.
Investigators are still trying to determine exactly what caused the crash, and are gathering evidence and proofs, as well as conducting tests. Since both Yarin and Tahel were killed in the accident, and Adel cannot be interrogated, investigators are having difficulty determining who was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash, Israel Hayom noted. There is no evidence to prove that the suspect was in fact driving the vehicle, and investigators are now attempting to locate security camera footage of the trip.