A Frenchman who drove a car that killed an Israeli woman in September 2011 in Tel Aviv was sentenced to five years in jail. His companion, who was in the passenger seat, got 15 months in jail for failing to provide assistance to the victim.
Eric Robic, 40, was driving a black BMW SUV at around 100 kilometres per hour, exceeding the 50 kilometres speed limit, on September 16, 2011, when it hit Lee Zeitouni, a 25-year-old gym trainer , in a pedestrian zone in Tel Aviv as she was walking to her job. Robic and his companion, Eric Khayat, 35, fled to France immediately after the accident to avoid arrest and a trial in Israel.
The two men stopped their car about 300 meters after the crossing where they hit Zeitouni and drove off to their rented Tel Aviv apartment before heading to the airport. “The accident was at 6:45 A.M. and he took off to Geneva at 11:15 P.M. He didn’t waste any time,” the prosecutor said.
Both men were being tried on the charge of non-assistance to a person in need. Robic faced an additional, more serious charge, of aggravated involuntary homicide. Both were in jail pending a separate French investigation into organized fraud and money-laundering.
The case sparked a diplomatic row between Israel and France, with Zeitouni’s family and friends mounting a campaign in Israel calling for the extradition of the two Frenchmen. French officials however maintained that the law does not allow the extradition of its nationals outside the European Union.
Zeitouni’s parents eventually filed a complaint in France. A criminal investigation for aggravated involuntary manslaughter was opened in July 2012 under a law which, in certain circumstances, allows French courts to try nationals for crimes committed outside French territory.
Robic and Khayat acknowledged the facts of the case but denied going through a red light before striking Zeitouni.
"(Robic) is acting like a gambler...who plays with people's lives," prosecutor Henry Guyomar said. "In every aspect of life, he seems to have no moral sense." He had demanded a six-year jail sentence for Robic.
Gilles William Goldnadel, the lawyer representing Lee Zeitouni’s parents, enumerated the accident’s aggravating circumstances: Robic was speeding at more than 100 kilometers per hour, the two men ran a red light, and then fled the scene and the country. “It’s a double escape” said Goldnadel, who tried to prove that the accused weren’t panicking as they had claimed.
“They took different planes,” Goldnadel said. “They took a flight to Geneva and not to Paris, where they had more chances of being caught by Israeli and French police.” Goldnadel added that Robic also shaved his hair before leaving Israel as to disguise himself.
As the high profile “Justice for Lee” campaign captured headlines in Israel, several disturbing elements surrounding the two Frenchmen emerged in the Israeli and French press.
While Robic and Khayat were initially identified as French tourists, it later emerged that the two men were in Israel not just for a visit to the Holy Land.
At that time, Robic was being investigated by French authorities for alleged fraud. According to Israeli investigators quoted by the French newspaper Le Figaro, the two men “fled Israel to escape Israeli justice after having fled France to escape French justice”.
According to Israeli media reports, the two men also had links to the Tel Aviv underworld.
In addition to these accusations, there were revelations of Robic’s extravagant lifestyle: a luxury-car lover, the Frenchman frequented prostitution dens and had 16 telephone lines, Le Figaro reported, quoting Israeli investigators.
Last month, the two men were jailed on suspicion of participating in a scam surrounding the sale of leased cars through false advertising, using fake transfers and receipts.