‘I’ll find you,’ says relative of three women killed in hit-and-run to perpetrator

Rudi Yegudiev, a son and brother of two of the women killed in Friday’s hit-and-run accident in Netanya, called on the main suspect to turn himself into authorities on Saturday.

“I call on the driver who ran them over to not be a rabbit in hiding but to turn himself in. If not, I’ll come to him,” said Yegudiev. “Like they found the vultures who killed Lee Zeitouni [an Israeli woman killed in a hit-and-run accident by French nationals in September 2011], I’ll find him.” (Zeitouni’s perpetrators fled back to France and the proceedings against them are ongoing.)

Authorities said Saturday that they have not ruled out the possibility that 35-year-old Shushan Baraby, their main suspect, was driving while under the influence of drugs. He may also try to flee the country, they said.

However, Hezi Reuben, Baraby’s cousin, told Walla News that his cousin didn’t commit the crime and that the police simply have a grudge against him. “He’ll never return and the police will never find him,” said Reuben. “The police destroy families; this is a publicity stunt. For the past five years he has not been involved in any crime.”

The three women who died Friday evening were all members of a single family: Alexandra Rubinov, 67, from Netanya, and Svetlana and Shoshana Yegudiev, 56 and 25 respectively, a mother and daughter who were residents of Dimona visiting their relative in Netanya for the weekend. They died after a driver ran them over them as they were crossing the street on a pedestrian crossing.

According to eyewitness reports, the vehicle collided with the women while driving at a rapid speed and hurled their bodies to the sides of the road. Paramedics who arrived on the scene attempted to resuscitate the victims, but were forced to announce them dead from multiple injuries.

A police source told Channel 10 that the vehicle kept on driving after hitting the women, coming to a stop 500 meters after the point of the collision where the driver and a second passenger got out and ran away.

Shortly after the accident a young man in his 20s arrived at a local police station and turned himself in as the driver of the vehicle. Channel 2 news said the police did not believe he was actually the driver and that he was perhaps taking the blame for a different man who is still in hiding.

The suspect later retracted his admission, claiming that his friend, Baraby, drove the taxi. The man’s lawyer, Tami Ulman, told Ynet that the suspect was confused and didn’t clearly remember what happened during the accident.

The Netanya police station called on the public to aid it in finding local resident Baraby, who they believe was the driver of the vehicle. Baraby has a criminal record and is known to belong to a local crime ring. Police called on him to turn himself in.

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