In order to prove the mental element of the offense of bribery, the court is assisted by the presumption of awareness, to which the Honorable Justice (as described at the time) referred in the case Algrissi.
It was held as follows:
"Too broad the use of the presumption of awareness, which is rooted in objective criteria (life experience and common sense), has a certain degree of erosion of the accepted legal perception that a person should not be criminally charged if he was not aware, subjectively, of all the factual elements of the offense of which he is accused. At the same time, the weight that should be attributed to these difficulties should not be exaggerated. Presumptions of fact based on common sense and life experience are recognized and accepted in all branches of law, including criminal law. Therefore, there is no reason why they should be included in offenses of governmental corruption, including the offense of bribery. In my opinion, the presumption of awareness has a place in these offenses no less than in other offenses. It should also be remembered that the presumption arises only where the facts that establish it are properly established, and in any event, it does not transfer the burden of persuasion to the defendant's shoulders, and it is sufficient for the defendant to raise reasonable doubt as to the conclusion deriving from that presumption in order to collapse the assumption underlying it. It seems, therefore, that a proper balance between the totality of the policy considerations raised leads to the conclusion that the application of a factual presumption of awareness to prove the mental element in the offense of bribery should not be ruled out".
It emerges from the above that in cases where the factual elements of the offense are proven, and for the purpose of proving the mental element, it is possible to turn to the presumption of awareness. It should be noted that when the court makes use of this presumption, it is sufficient for the defendant to cast doubt on his awareness of one of the elements of the offense, in order to refute it.