This morning (Tuesday) at the Petah Tikva Traffic Court, a sentencing hearing was held in the case of 82-year-old Carol Fessler, who was convicted of leaving the scene after causing injury in the fatal May 2023 accident in Netanya that killed four-year-old Rafael Adana.
The prosecutor from the Central District Attorney's Office, Attorney Sagi Segev, asked the court to sentence Fessler to three years in prison, alongside a suspended sentence, permanent license revocation by agreement, and compensation for the child's family.
The prosecutor said, "The punishment must match the horrific outcome of the case." He added, "The offense of leaving the scene is grave and disgraceful and should not receive lenient punishment. When the victim is so young, a four-year-old child who lost his life, the punishment must be severe and lengthy."
Fessler's defense attorney, Attorney Shachar Mendelman, last week filed a request to postpone the hearing and send his client for a psychiatric evaluation, but the request was denied.
Simcha, Rafael's mother, spoke in court and said in tears, "Two years and eight months ago, my life changed completely. I lost my child. Rafael was the center of the home. He was a sweet child, one big heart. We had a special bond. Even on that cursed day, he told me in the morning 'Mom, I'm crazy about you,' and I told him back that I love him. If I had known that the driver would run him over and take his life, we would not have left the house at all."
She added, "My older child, who was six and a half, saw his brother being run over before his eyes, and he has not recovered. He asks every day, 'Why didn't she stop? Why didn't she help Rafael? Why isn't she in prison?', and I have no answers. I am a mother who lost the dearest thing she had. I come here every time to see the killer of my baby. Why isn't she paying for what she did? Why do I, a mother who lost a child, have to fight for justice? I ask that she pay for what she did, that she be behind bars."
Rafael's father, Ziv, said at the hearing, "Since the incident, I feel like the walking dead. I don't know how the woman who ran over my child is sitting here while I cannot do anything. I am angry at the police, the prosecution, and the court. You are all complicit in whitewashing the case."