The Haifa District Court on Sunday sentenced Edward Kachura, 53 years old from Kiryat Motzkin, to seven years in prison for the negligent killing of the late Lital Yael Melnik, 17, in October 2021.
Kachura maintained throughout the trial that he had no intention of causing her death and that he had only responded to her request to assist her with a “purification ceremony.”
The court accepted the defense's argument that there was negligence but not premeditated intent, and in addition to the prison sentence, he was also given a one-year suspended sentence and ordered to pay 140,000 shekels in compensation to the deceased's family. Kachura has been in custody since the Melnik's death, so he is expected to serve only three more years in prison.
Attorney Yaniv Manor, who represented Kachura from the Public Defender's Office, said: "Edward mourns Yael’s death. The court accepted his version that it was a tragic accident. This version is supported by many pieces of evidence. We will review the sentence and consider our next steps."
Kachura, who worked as a nurse in the youth department at the "Ma'aleh Hacarmel" mental health center where Melnik was hospitalized, made illegal contact with her, and at the height of their relationship, they went to a construction site, where he buried her alive as part of a mutually agreed-upon “purification ceremony.”
Kachura claimed throughout the trial that he had no intention of causing her death and that he left the site while she was still alive. According to his version, the incident was a tragic accident in which Melnik lost consciousness due to elevated carbon dioxide levels, and then inhaled sand, which caused her death.
The court acquitted him of murder due to reasonable doubt but ruled that his actions and omissions led to the situation that resulted in Melnik’s death, and convicted him of negligent homicide. He was also convicted of offenses related to illegal consensual relations and violating a legal order.