JERUSALEM (JTA) – An Arab-Israeli taxi driver was sentenced to life in prison for killing a young Jewish woman on her way in northern Israel.
Hussein Yousef Hussein Khalifa, 34, of the village of Iblin in the Galilee, was convicted and sentenced Wednesday in Nazareth District Court in the stabbing death of Shelly Dadon. He also was ordered to pay compensation to Dadon’s family.
Dadon, 20, had left her home in Afula on May 1, 2014, for a job interview in nearby Migdal Haemek and was found dead the next day in the city’s industrial zone. Khalifa, who drove workers to and from factories in the industrial zone, said in a confession that he took Dadon to an abandoned parking lot on its outskirts and stabbed her to death before fleeing in his cab.
Khalifa later backtracked on the confession, though he reportedly had told investigators details that only the killer would know. His attorney said the confession was given under duress and excessive force.
Dadon’s father, Yaakov, lamented in court that Israel does not have the death penalty and called for Khalifa’s home to be demolished as are terrorists’ homes, Ynet reported.
