The witness told the police that she was six months pregnant, and at the same time, after she was in the examination, she and her husband arrived in Jaffa, and then took her son to a public park near her mother-in-law's house, while her husband (the complainant) went to get his hair cut at a nearby barbershop. According to her, the complainant used to cut his hair regularly only at the "Michael" barbershop in Jaffa, on Wednesdays every week. The witness noticed a dark-skinned cyclist wearing a black helmet, as he walked around in the garden, and he raised her suspicion, because he was looking at her and it seemed "strange" to her that he was wearing a helmet on his head despite the heat, and she felt that something was wrong. As the complainant made his way along the path leading to the garden, the shooter approached him and spoke to him, while driving in a zig-zag on his bicycle. The complainant replied, "What do you want," continued toward the swing and said, "We'll talk when I have time." The witness said that Lira had big, white teeth and a bit of a mustache. According to her, the helmet was closed, but due to the sunlight, she noticed his facial features and the structure of his eyes, which were slightly slanted, his nose was straight and wide, and he had large nostrils, and his lips were wide. At this point, the witness asked the complainant, "Who is this?" and he replied, "Just, leave" and continued to rock their son. The witness noticed the shooter stopping his bicycle in a nearby residential building, looked at them, took out a weapon from his bag and loaded it. The witness shouted to the complainant, "He's taking out a weapon." The shooter ran towards the complainant, stood in front of him, and while the complainant said to him, "What are you doing," the shooter replied, "Move the girl," shot the complainant in the stomach and ran back toward his bicycle. The witness heard two shots. The witness shouted at her husband to run away, pulled her son out of the swing and shouted "Help" for fear that the shooter would continue to hit her husband. The complainant ran from the scene to the grocery store, and the witness called the police, showed them the scene and detailed what had happened to them. According to her, the shooter was Ethiopian-looking, dark-skinned, without an accent, tall, wearing a short black shirt and dark pants, wearing a black helmet and looking young in his twenties, between the ages of 22 and 26. She herself does not know him. The complainant's wife signed her statement to the police (P/65, P/65A).
Testimonies of the police officers who collected the messages and relevant actions taken by them
- Policeman Israel Sionov, who serves as a police investigator, stated in his testimony that on July 28, 2022, upon receiving an update about this, the complainant woke up, after several days during which he was anesthetized and put on a ventilator, he and the policewoman Nofar Yehya arrived at Wolfson Hospital. There, after receiving permission from the doctor, they will question the complainant while he is still in his bed in his room. According to him, it was possible to communicate with the complainant, and he was able to talk, despite the difficulties as a result of the trauma he experienced and the environmental noise that existed in the hospital. Officer Sayonov noted that he was under the impression that the complainant understood that he was talking to police investigators and that he was clear-minded. The complainant initially refused to cooperate and answer their questions, and it was given the impression that he did not want to "come out" the person who had done the act to him, and was even concerned that the police were recording his words. However, later on, the complainant relented and told them about the incident in its entirety, gave the name of the person who shot him, and many details about him; For example: his nickname, description, origin, residential address, unique family detail relating to his brother who committed suicide, and more. According to him, it was evident that the complainant knew the person who shot him well, and even told them that they had worked together, and that he had served as a "monkey." Officer Siyanov noted that during the interrogation they deliberately refrained from revealing to the complainant the arrest of a suspect in the act, so that the details about him would first be heard from the complainant, and so that this would not affect the degree of cooperation on his part (pp. 413-414 of the protégé). Policeman Sayonov stated that during the interrogation he occasionally deliberately told Policewoman Yahya that he did not hear the complainant's words in order to make the complainant raise his voice so that his words would be clearly recorded, but he himself heard and understood his words (p. 419 of Prut). He also stated that throughout the interrogation, he and Policewoman Yihya used to repeat some of the complainant's answers in their voices, since he answered in a weak voice (p. 527 of the protégé). Officer Sionov stated that he himself documented the main points that emerged from the complainant's questioning, using the recording of the conversation, and prepared a "victim questioning report" on July 31, 2022 (P/92).
On August 4, 2022, Officer Sayonov drew up a memorandum in which he documented a conversation he had with the complainant's wife on August 3, 2022, during which he expressed concern that the court would order the defendant's release from detention. The complainant's wife requested that the investigators come to their home in order to take additional testimony from the complainant, upon his release from the hospital. After receiving permission, and although there was no need for further interrogation, it was agreed that the complainant would come to the police station to give further testimony. However, on the date set for August 4, 2022, the complainant's wife announced that the complainant was not interested in coming to the interrogation due to her fear of a deterioration in his mental state if he spoke about the incident again (P/94).
- Policewoman Nofar Yahya, who served as an investigator on the investigative team, stated in her testimony in court that she and Policeman Siyanov came to question the complainant at Wolfson Hospital, with the approval of the doctors who treated him, after a few days during which he was anesthetized. According to her, the complainant understood that they were police officers, knew what had happened to him, and could have communicated with him. The complainant was initially afraid to cooperate with them, but after they instilled confidence in him, he gave the details she had recorded in a memorandum attached to the memorandum she had prepared on August 11, 2022 (P/75), and she handwritten the complainant's testimony (P/66). Policewoman Yahya did not remember whether she had read the complainant's testimony, but according to her, the complainant tried to sign the statement but had difficulty raising his hands (pp. 382-385 of the protégé).
A memorandum prepared by Policewoman Yahya on August 11, 2022, regarding the victim's testimony at the hospital, shows, among other things, that during the complainant's questioning on July 28, 2022, he stated that "Yayo Tegania" shot him and spelled his name. In response to the policemen's question, the complainant replied that the shooter lived at 6 or 8 Saharon Street and said that they had known him for several years and that he had a beard like that of Officer Siyanov, and that he had arrived at the playground on a motorcycle. When the complainant was asked why the security cameras showed electric bicycles, he replied that he could have described the shooter as a young man wearing a black helmet (P/75).
Testimony of the complainant's wife
- The complainant's wife, who was present in the playground with her toddler son and the complainant at the time of the shooting, was summoned to give testimony on behalf of the accuser. The complainant's wife was asked in her main interrogation to tell about what happened at the scene on July 20, 2022, but she replied: "I don't talk, I can't, I choose not to talk". When asked what the reason was, she replied that she did not believe in the court system (p. 319 of Prut). At the same time, she confirmed that she gave testimony to the police, while clarifying: "I stand behind my testimony word for word, yes? Everything I said was exactly what I couldn't talk about". After these words, so at the beginning of her testimony, the witness burst into tears, and it is clear that she is in a storm of emotions, which makes it difficult for her to testify. Therefore, at this stage, a decision was made to take a short break in the hearing in order to allow the witness to drink, rest a little, and relax (p. 320 of Prout). Even after the break, it was clear from the witness's words and body language that something was preventing her from giving her testimony. The court sought to calm her down and made her aware of the importance of hearing her testimony, as someone who was present at the scene, until she slowly agreed to tell her that on July 20, 2022, she was in a public park in Jaffa with the complainant and their two-year-old son, who was swinging on a swing. His father rocked the boy for about two minutes, until he was shot. She herself stood next to them. The witness said she saw the shooter, but when asked to elaborate, she reiterated that: "I can't", while referring again to her police interrogation, saying: "Everything I said in the testimony was all recorded, that's exactly what happened. When you see it, you will know that this is exactly what it was" (p. 322 of the protégé). When the witness was asked if anyone had threatened her or hinted that she would not testify, she replied in a frightened voice: "I can't", and later said that she could not answer the questions because she was traumatized (pp. 322-323 of Pruitt). Later, after the witness was given another break to calm down, she explicitly said several times: "I don't want to talk".
At this stage, after we got the impression that the witness was silent and refused to provide relevant details, for its reasons, and we heard the positions of the parties, we granted the accuser's request to submit the witness's statements to the police by virtue of Section 10A(a) of the Evidence Ordinance [New Version], 5731-1971 (hereinafter: "The Evidence Ordinance"), and her statements were submitted to the police, after the witness confirmed that the statements were taken from her and signed them (P/64, P/65). The witness confirmed that she was the one who called the police after the incident, and according to her, she told the police the truth.