Anesthesiologist gets 9.5 years for trying to murder crush’s boyfriend with sedative
In plea bargain, Asaf Karpel convicted of breaking into colleague’s home, attacking her partner with electric shocker, then attempting to inject him with deadly substance
An anesthesiologist was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison on Sunday for trying to murder the romantic partner of a woman he had a crush on by injecting the man with a lethal dose of sedative.
The Lod District Court also ordered Asaf Karpel to pay NIS 120,000 ($35,000) in compensation.
His attorney Adi Carmeli said in a statement that the double-digit sentence prosecutors had asked for was “exaggerated and excessive.”
Last October Karpel was convicted of attempted murder in a plea bargain with prosecutors.
The intended victim has told Channel 12 in the past that he continues to suffer from anxiety that Karpel will again try to harm him and his partner.
According to the updated charge sheet filed with the Central District Court, Karpel, 37, befriended the woman, whom he got to know in the course of his work as a doctor.
The indictment said Karpel would stalk the woman, wait for her near her car, buy her gifts and send her email and text messages expressing his love for her and his wish for a romantic relationship with her.
Karpel eventually decided to kill the woman’s partner.
He stole her home key and two syringes from the hospital where he works, along with anesthetics that can kill a person in case of an overdose and which are normally only given during a procedure, with life-saving equipment close by.
Karpel allegedly checked the woman’s shift schedule to know when she wasn’t at home, and went to her home in disguise, carrying an electroshock weapon, a lighter, a scalpel, and the syringes with the anesthetics.
After waiting outside for several hours, he entered the apartment in the middle of the night using the key, went to the bedroom and attacked the woman’s boyfriend.
Karpel used the electric shocker and tried to inject him with the syringes, but his intended victim woke up, struggled and broke free, after which Karpel fled the scene.
Karpel was located a short while later while driving. A search of his car yielded black coveralls, a hat, a balaclava and the syringes.
In 2016, a thrice-married man was convicted of murdering two wives using drugs he obtained from his lover, an anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist was also convicted for providing him with the sedatives.
