The Jerusalem District Court has returned a guilty verdict in the case of a haredi minor who was accused of throwing stones at vehicles traveling on Highway 1 in Jerusalem, in 2018. A second minor who was indicted on a similar charge has gone through a rehabilitation process and thus escaped a guilty verdict, Kikar Hashabbat reports.
The two minors were indicted three years ago, after they were accused of throwing stones at vehicles traveling on Bar Lev Boulevard in Jerusalem (Highway 1) on a Friday night (i.e. on Shabbat). Five vehicles sustained damage due to the stone-throwing. The events were documented by security cameras and after a lengthy legal process, one of the minors was convicted. Tomorrow (Monday), sentencing hearings for that minor will commence.
At the trial, the judge stated: “The case of the second defendant concluded after he admitted to the offenses in the context of a plea bargain. The plea bargain includes all the offenses cited in the indictment with various corrections made with regard to details but not to the offenses themselves. On the day after the verdict, defendant two commenced a lengthy, significant and impressive rehabilitation procedure, and a verdict was rendered in his case stating that he was not found guilty.”
The judge also addressed the defense of the first minor, saying: “I watched the entire footage [from the security camera] and from this, I came to the conclusion that the accused did actually throw stones, and I was able to identify the accused from the footage. Four witnesses gave evidence regarding his identity including: T, who positively identified him with certainty; S.G. who identified him with a high level of probability; and others who identified him from the footage, even though it was of low quality. I rejected the claims of the defense that it was possibly that they erred in identification as the defendant could have been confused with one of his brothers – the defense did not prove this claim.”