In a precedent-setting ruling, the Jerusalem Court ordered on Monday Boaz Moskovitz, a settler from the Tekoa Jewish settlement in the West Bank, to pay punitive damages to the family of a Palestinian youth who was killed when the settler fired at his family's home ten years ago, reported Haaretz newspaper.
Judge Aryeh Romanov, who accepted the suit filed by the victim's family against Moskovitz, ordered him to pay them NIS 156,000 (approximately $22.000) plus the costs of the trial, said the paper.
The incident occurred during the Gulf war a decade ago, when Moskovitz was driving from Jerusalem to his home in Tekoa, armed with an M-16 rifle.
At the junction near Beit Sahour twon, he stopped, got out of the car and fired a number of shots "in the air," said the paper.
One of the bullets entered the home of the Muslah family and killed 14-year-old Silam Muslah.
Moskoitz was arrested and tried for manslaughter in the Jerusalem District Court, but following a plea bargain, he was instead convicted of causing death through negligence. He was sentenced to five months of community service and 18-month suspended sentence, Haaretz added.
The family then filed a civil suit against Moskovitz, and the court ruled against him, noting that he had already admitted negligence in his plea bargain, according to the paper -- Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
