Serious Crimes Case (Be’er Sheva) 63400-04-21 State of Israel v. Maor Meir Dadon - part 14

In the first statement, which was given immediately after the incident (23 March 2021, at 10:30 A.M.), the witness made sure to identify the deceased who was lying on the floor, as "Ben Dadon", whom he knew personally.  He clarified that he did not want to get close to him and only called the police (pp.  1, 16-17), and to the question of whether he knew how many people were involved in the incident, he answered in the negative.  When asked about the disputes that the deceased had, he clarified that he did not intend to go into details and answer additional questions on this level, saying: "I don't know atonement for you, I have been traumatized by the police and I don't want to go in there and that's it" (p.  2, s.  4).  In the second statement (the next day, 24 March 2021), the witness no longer named the deceased as someone who was lying on the floor, and only described him as "something" and "one person screaming for help" (pp.  1, 6 and 15).  Only when he was told that his friend M.A.  (the additional eyewitness, above) recounted that he had seen the incident up close and also shouted at the assailant - he replied, "I heard Ben screaming for help and I recognized his voice" (p.  2, s.  26).  The name of the defendant or of any other person involved was not mentioned by him, even after he was hurled at the phone calls to the emergency centers.  When asked specifically how he didn't see another person at the scene, if he shouted, "Leave him, leave him," he replied to the interrogator, who did not know what he was talking about, and added: "I was under atomic pressure and I don't remember what I said at all" (p.  3, s.  48).  At 47:16 on the disc, he raised the possibility that there was a heart there, and his intention was that he would "leave him").  When asked again how many people he had seen at the scene, he replied, after a long silence (from which one can get an impression from the 29:10 minute onwards on the disc), that he "doesn't want to get into trouble with the police.  I have a wife and children and on the eve of a holiday...  I told you what I saw.  That's what I can say" (ibid., s.  54 and 56.  49:34 on the disc).  At the beginning of the third statement (30 March 2021), the witness repeated his version that he saw the deceased lying on the floor bleeding (later he added that the deceased was shirtless, p.  6, para.  159).  He noted that according to what he had "heard" - the suspect in the act was the defendant, Maor.  In this context, he stated that he was aware that the defendant was in prison, and that he recognized him as the grandson of the neighbor (the grandmother), and added on his own initiative, "But I have no contact with him" (p.  2, 26).  Even when he was slammed in the face, for the first time, that his conversations with MDA and the police were recorded, the witness insisted that he did not remember what he said at the time, claimed that he did not feel well, insisted, several times, that he did not see the suspect (later the defendant) at the scene, and added: "I did not see the fight at all" (p.  3, s.  51).  When asked if he did not say anything, because he was afraid of the defendant, he replied in the negative, adding: "He almost murdered the whole family there.  That's what I heard, he also fell on his brother, he tried to murder the father of the murdered man four years ago" (ibid., paras.  67-68).  At this stage of the interrogation (which was backed up by the interrogator Eyal Zeitoun, on the computer of the interrogator Elad Avraham, and in his presence for part of the time), the interrogation rehearsal Zephaniah Karbi (A.T.  44) arrived, warned the witness that he was suspected of obstructing the investigation and conspiracy, and after the aforementioned consulted with an attorney, the interrogation continued under the same warning, but the witness did not change his version in the slightest, and at the request of the interrogator, he gave the details of other witnesses who could have seen something, at the various stages of the incident, and shortly afterwards.  It should be noted that in the witness's main interrogation in court, and with reference to the aforementioned statement, he replied that he did not tell the truth to the police, because he was afraid, and he did not want to "deal with the police", and that he understood in retrospect that he had made a mistake (Prot.  24 April 2022, p.  429 Q.  3).  In the fourth statement (4 April 2021), which the witness gave in an "open investigation" (also to the interrogator Eyal Zeitoun), he was heard making the calls he made to the rescue forces, and in particular, when he was heard saying, "Leave him, leave him," and "Leave him from Or." The witness confirmed that he was the speaker of them, but claimed that he did not remember exactly what he saw, since he was standing about 25 meters away from the sun, and did not feel well.  Even so, he said, he saw that there was a hanging laundry, two cars, and figures of "two people quarreling" (p.  3, 50).  Ben, whom he recognized mainly by his voice, lay on the floor, and Maor moved next to him, with a rag in his hand, until he disappeared.  When asked what he meant when he said in the conversation, "I can't see it," and why he said there were "stabbings," he replied that he had a hard time seeing the blood on Ben, who was lying bleeding on the floor, and concluded that it was caused by the stabbing.  The witness repeated over and over again that his only fear was the police, and when he was accused of telling another interrogator that he was actually afraid that the defendant would take revenge on him if he spoke about him during the interrogation, he finally replied: "You will be retired and he can come and hurt my children.  It's transparent, he's already done it to a son's father.  His mother is afraid of him, she closes the house so he won't come in.  Everyone knows Netivot, everyone is talking.  My 17-year-old daughter told me yesterday that if Maor comes out, he'll kill the whole family.  She's traumatized, she's afraid...  If he sees what I said in my testimony, he'll be released and can come and hurt my children and everything I've built in 60 years" (p.  10, 279-281 and 284).  The witness denied that he saw the defendant stab the deceased, but understood, according to him, that there was a fight there, because they always fight.  When asked why he called the defendant's name nine times, as can be heard from the recording of the conversation (below), he replied that he recognized him standing there and wanted him to stay away from the scene, so that "it would not get worse" (p.  11, para.  309).  As for the movement made by the witness - raising and lowering his hands (as if imitating a repeated stabbing action.  A.W.), while speaking on the phone (from which one can get an impression of a video produced from the security camera that was located above his office, P/49, at 01:34:19) - he replied that he was used to talking with his hands, and did not remember what he said in the conversation at the same time as this movement.  At the end of another description of the course of events, by the witness, he noted that "Ben was lying on the floor and Maor was sitting next to him, and then when I started shouting, he got up and started moving" (pp.  13, paras.  375-376).  After the interrogator demonstrated the way the deceased was lying, the witness presented him with the defendant's position on his side, in such a way that he leaned towards him, on his left side, near his head.  To this demonstration, a marking was also added on an illustration (A.Z.1).  When asked to explain why in previous interrogations he did not give the additional details, including that he had seen the defendant at the scene, the witness replied: "I don't know.  I was afraid to enter the delusional picture.  I was afraid to get into trouble with the police, with all this chaos, I was shaking.  Look at how my fingers swelled from the pressure" (ibid., paras.  390-391), and added with regard to the defendant: "I was afraid that in 30 years he would murder my children.  You, the interrogator, will be retired, everything I have built for 60 years will go to me" (pp.  14, paras.  395-396).  With regard to the connection between him and the defendant, the witness replied that he recognized him, inter alia, from the black hair and the "bays" on his head (apparently referring to the hair.  A.W.), and never even spoke to him (ibid., paras.  418).  When he was referred to another illustration (A.Z.2), he explained that the defendant leaned over the deceased, from a distance of 20-50 cm, while demonstrating (as can be seen at the minute 03:28:15 on the disc) how the defendant put his hands together, close to his chest, and when he shouted at him he was frightened and "did not know what to do.  Hearing my voice, he began to get into trouble, he thought he was alone there" (pp.  15, 451-452).  At this point, the defendant got up on top of the deceased, made about 15 movements, back and forth (which the witness likened to "Vaishar" at p.  15, s.  434, and his walk from side to side, to Ayala - at 02:42:50 on the disc in the interrogation), and walked toward the house.