Original subtitles

A juvenile court judge in Jerusalem has set a ten-day arraignment

for a youth suspected of murdering his parents and his sisters.

Our reporter, Uri Cohen Aharonov, reports that the boy will be held

at the Talbia mental hospital in Jerusalem for observation.

Our reporter said that the arraignment hearing will be held in closed courts

at the detention center of the Jerusalem District Police

in front of the juvenile Judge, Avraham Ben-Hador.

During the hearing, the boy confessed to the crime,

shed tears when he noticed his relatives,

and asked for his homework from school to be brought to Talbia Hospital.

We took him to the hospital…

to be examined by a hospital psychiatrist.

Before we went in, me and him, and he wasn't handcuffed,

a little murderer without handcuffs, sitting there, just me and him, alone.

And we're chatting and laughing, anyone watching would've said,

"A father and his son." Or something like that. Nothing more.

Then he goes into a room with the hospital psychiatrist

and some more staff members, and I wait outside.

After half an hour, or an hour, something like that,

the psychiatrist comes out and asks me, "Are you all right?"

I tell him, "Yes, why?"

He says, "This kid… After him, all psychiatry books should be updated."

He came to you?

He came to the wing for hospitalization accompanied by policemen

who left him in the closed wing,

and went away, leaving him for what was called "observation."

Do you remember your first impression of him,

the first time you saw him?

What did you see?

The boy next door.

There are those who come, you see them

and you instantly say, "He's psychotic. He did it out of delirium."

You see them behaving aggressively, violently, or disrespectfully in the wing.

He came…

He really respected all the rules, all the codes.

No aggression, no violence, no social problems

with others, with the other boys in the wing.

He was withdrawn, yes. He didn't tell us anything.

He didn't talk much. But he abided by all the rules.

Look, it was really…

His IQ,

I don't want to talk numbers, but it was very high.

And his behavior?

Impeccable. It really isn't typical.

We asked all the time when we'd be able to visit him,

and they said he was under observation

and that they would tell us when we'd be allowed.

I think it was a week later, I can't remember exactly, but not long after,

I went with Ruth, the principal, we went together.

We went there and entered his room.

And he welcomed us happily with a smile.

He wasn't embarrassed at all.

He was really happy we came and thanked us.

And we said, "The kids wrote to you," and he was very happy.

And…

You stand in front of him…

"February 24, 1986.

The important thing is that you're feeling well.

What happened happened, and it's really sad and painful.

But now, start thinking about the future.

I ask you from the bottom of my heart to take care of yourself and be strong.

When I heard you were asking for school books,

I knew it was the friend I know.

He's a hardworking friend who likes to study to succeed at school.

He doesn't want to live, like you once told me,

on welfare money after the Army.

And for that, I and all our friends admire and respect you.

I know all this as a close and loving friend

who spent time with you and enjoyed your company.

Like that time at the movies when you and Yatzek finished my Coke

and decided to leave me a little bit.

Anyway, I miss you and am waiting for you to come back. Yours, Yaniv."

I felt like I was visiting a boy who had been in an accident,

and was in hospital for treatment. I mean…

He smiled, didn't say a word, nothing about the incident.

Nothing related to the incident.

Nothing. Not at all.

Did he seem sad?

No.

-You didn't see sadness. -No.

Not at all.

Did you ever tell him,

"I don't believe your story about the green creature"?

Of course. Of course I told him, right from the start.

Of course, I always confront the patients with what I think.

And how did he respond when you told him, "I don't believe you"?

How did he respond?

He said, "That's not true."

Just like that, like I said it to you now.

"That's not true. "

"You're wrong." "Fine."

-That's it. -Yes.

-Three weeks of that. -No emotion--

Three weeks of that.

-Digging and staying in the same place. -Same place.

I'll use a metaphor.

He maintained his right to remain silent while talking.

"And you may be doctors, professors, department heads…

that doesn't impress me."

"You won't know more than what I said."

"I'm smarter than you are."

He knows more.

In this case he's smart, that too,

but he knows more.

"And what I know,

I will not tell you."

And that's it.

And if we respect the rules of the game, as they say, that's all there was.

"We hope this was one of the first letters you opened, and if not,

we apologize for the words which probably repeat themselves in the other letters.

It's important for us that you know that we talk and think about you all the time.

We just don't know the right way to express and tell you

how much we love you and believe in you.

We hope you don't read the garbage they write in the newspapers,

because most of it is dirty and unfounded lies.

It's really hard for us to express ourselves well in writing

because we ourselves are still confused."

We want you to come back as quickly as possible

and know that everyone misses you

and your constant smile.

Be strong, and don't forget we're always on your side.

Yours with love, Shiri and Rakefet."

The hardest thing was…

It was…

I didn't understand.

The helplessness.

The helplessness as a professional

that you feel…

when you sense…

You work a great deal with your senses in our profession,

a great deal.

You sense…

that he can feel your helplessness.

And he will continue to maintain it.

He will feed it.

Was this some sort of…

"intellectual battle"?

Absolutely. It was. It absolutely was.

JERUSALEM DISTRICT COURT

We formulated our professional opinion and submitted it to the court.

In our assessment, we said he was fit for trial

and there were no grounds for claiming

any sort of psychiatric impairment that could have led him to commit the crime.

And…

And if you ask me today, all these years later,

"So,

why did he do it?"

I will say, "I don't know."

…from the Jerusalem District Court.

Yossi, come on. Come in after me.

When I take a case,

I think about it at night. By my bed, I have a piece of paper.

I wake up at night and write things down.

I'd been thinking about that case from the very first day,

and I decided how I'd run it.

After the investigation was completed,

and it wasn't a very complicated investigation

since they didn't have to investigate who did it,

an indictment was filed with the Jerusalem District Court,

in its capacity as a juvenile court,

on four counts of murder.

I was the prosecutor, yes. I prepared the indictment,

I read the material, and based on that material,

we decided to indict.

It was inevitable.

I never saw one single tear in his eyes.

Not even…

any kind of sobbing.

The feeling was…

that he was indifferent to it.

You annihilated your whole family, and you're 14 after all.

And you're not mentally impaired.

The finest specialists examined him,

including a psychiatrist who specialized in children,

The bottom line was that he was fit for trial and no psychosis was found.

We could hold the trial,

he was responsible for his actions,

and children over 14 could be sent to jail.

Come…

-Let us through. -You see the boy?

-Gentlemen, move. -Let us through.

At a certain point,

we received news…

that the trial was being held

at the Jerusalem District Court,

and the whole department decided to go to the District Court.

We got there.

They brought the boy.

His legs were cuffed.

His hands were cuffed.

We stood there in a row.

They brought the boy.

He looked at us,

and smiled at the policemen.

And he wasn't at all moved.

He wasn't moved when he saw us,

I have no doubt he recognized some of us,

but…

it had no effect on him.

He just didn't care.

He would come to our department,

he'd come to the Bookkeeping department at the Ministry of Education,

and fiddle with everything.

Everything interested him.

Really, especially the calculator.

He'd sit with the calculators,

and wouldn't stop.

He'd sit there making all sorts of calculations.

At the end of the day, this boy really was a genius.

Smart and brilliant.

And it saddens me again.

It saddens me that a boy like that ended up this way.

I don't know what was going through his mind.

To prove mens rea,

meaning he made the decision to kill in that situation,

we can learn from the act of taking the gun

and moving from one victim to the next, to the next,

as a person intends to achieve the natural results of that act.

You don't get into their minds unless…

they say they're going to kill.

The court learns about the intent from the fact of the act.

If you take a knife and stab someone in the chest,

that means you intended to kill them.

It was actually the first time you saw him--

After the incident, yes.

What did you expect to see?

Pain? What did you expect?

-Yes. -What?

Yes. The pain of a boy.

A depressed boy, but no.

Very proudly, with his head held high,

he smiled, he giggled with the policemen,

he just giggled,

to the extent that the department manager,

Lily Brown, said,

"There's no point in staying. It's a monster."

But the main battle was between Judge Tal,

if you can call it a battle,

and the prosecution.

I have to say

that since Judge Tal had come to the court, I had really admired him,

as a person, as a figure,

and…

He said the following things, which I remember very well,

"In my opinion, it doesn't matter what the professors decide

regarding liability and the ability to stand trial.

I will not change my opinion

that this boy is not like other people.

He has a problem that perhaps the doctors cannot define,

but I cannot treat him as I would a regular defendant,

no way,

especially regarding liability,

and we have to find," that's how he put it,

"some way of closing this case…

without reaching that impasse of fit for trial, unfit for trial…"

As if he were telling me,

"From now on, I'm telling you what I think."

Isn't that a very unusual statement?

A judge saying, "Before you say anything, I already--"

A crazy statement.

-Yes. -It's a statement…

"So you know what I think.

I see that boy, I…

I'm familiar with the charges. A person…

A person of sound mind would not do something like that."

And then they came and summoned me to their chambers.

As a prosecutor.

Some years later,

I was volunteering in the National Service.

I became religious and did National Service,

and during my service I was a registrar at the District Court.

And he was tried at that time at the District Court,

and he came to me, all the way to me.

And it was really hard for me, and I deliberated with myself

whether to avoid him or face him.

Should I go into the courtroom?

Would I talk to him?

Would I go downstairs to see him?

He--

Wow, I need…

Next to the holding cell, there was a room to get office supplies.

So, I knew the policemen and so on.

I went downstairs and saw that he wasn't in the holding cell,

he was sitting at a table with the policemen,

and they'd bought him a sandwich from the cafeteria,

and he was talking to them and laughing.

And I looked at him and told him, I called him by his name.

He looked at me, and I looked at him and said,

"Don't you know me?"

I looked at him and said, "Adi."

And he said, "Oh, Adi."

And I asked, "How are you?"

And he said to me, "Fine."

I asked, "How are they treating you? How do you feel?"

And he said, "They're treating me very well. I feel very good."

I didn't know what I was asking or what I was talking to him about.

I asked him if he wanted to see a photo.

I carried a photo of Shira with me at all times.

So I said, "I have a photo from before the murder."

"Would you like to see it?"

He said, "It wasn't murder. It was manslaughter."

And…

I didn't know what to do with that.

All photographers, leave the room.

Be gentle, please.

This was an easy case to prove.

To prove murder.

Partly because of what I said, I didn't have to get into his mind.

But the court, I'm saying it again,

stood there with its arms out…

like in basketball, on defense. "I don't…"

"Find some kind of solution."

I keep saying it, "If the solution was to convict him of manslaughter,

the sentence was too light."

We reached a plea bargain.

We closed the case for manslaughter and not murder.

Why was this important?

Someone who commits manslaughter can inherit, a murderer can't.

On the day I got the case,

I thought about what I'd do.

Among the things he said was that he wanted to inherit.

To inherit, I needed it not to be murder.

So I went to the District Attorney to end it as manslaughter.

And if it's manslaughter, he inherits.

And he did.

-He got everything, right? -Everything. The house, everything.

Everything, he was the sole inheritor.

The day you took the case,

you were already thinking about the parents' pension and insurance?

Yes…

I play chess.

I always plan ten moves ahead.

I didn't even share the moves I made with my partner.

I told the kid everything I was going to do.

He knew everything. I didn't hide one word from him.

But he was smart. He knew exactly, he understood.

So he also knew from the start that you were thinking ahead?

Yes.

He knew.

Come on in…

After me.

Didn't the judge think there might be a reason?

They couldn't penetrate that shell, if there was a shell, of why he did it.

There was no talk of hatred or envy,

nor of hating the father or the mother.

We had no indication

of the sisters abusing him or hating him.

On the contrary, this was a boy whose family loved him.

But you didn't feel there was a reason?

That's what I'm asking. You and the judge.

I could not have come to court and said, "Sir,

there was a reason for the massacre."

Not at all. I wasn't able.

And say you thought there was a motive, I'm just curious…

Yes.

The trial would've gone differently, the sentence would be different,

-everything would be different. -Yes.

If they had found a motive, everything would have changed.

But they never found one.

BOY WHO KILLED HIS FAMILY TO BE JAILED FOR NINE YEARS

"LIFE BEGINS AT 20," SAID THE BOY TO HIS RELATIVES WHO STILL SUPPORT HIM

I think that if it had happened today,

I'd understand it better than I did then.

I could have made more assumptions, in light of experience, than we had then.

Today I'd look in entirely different directions.

-Entirely? -Yes.

Because…

certainly, somehow,

it's hiding within the family.

Subtitle translation by: Harry Darkins