“Even if a person is dying and the blows only hasten his death, that is sufficient cause for a charge of manslaughter, and if the intention was to kill, it could also be murder.”
Above: Haptom Zarhum
What could the men who beat Haptom Zarhum, the Eritrean man mistaken for a terrorist largely because of his skin color and appearance, be charged with?
Zarhum was shot by a security guard at the Beersheba Central Bus Station in the aftermath of Sunday's terror attack. As he lay helpless and bleeding on the floor, a mob of onlookers began kicking and beating him, slamming a bench into his body and using his head like a soccer ball.
So? What could these men be charged with?
According to Ha'aretz, this:
…Prof. Emanuel Gross, an expert on criminal law, told Haaretz that if it turns out that it was the gunfire caused Zarhom’s death, his attackers could be charged with assault or causing serious bodily harm, an offense that carries up to a 20-year prison sentence. However, if the examination shows that the blows that Zarhom received accelerated his death, the perpetrators could be charged with murder or manslaughter.
Added legal scholar Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer: “Even if a person is dying and the blows only hasten his death, that is sufficient cause for a charge of manslaughter, and if the intention was to kill, it could also be murder.”…