Man sentenced to 23 years in prison for 2020 attempted murder of wife
Court also hands Aviad Moshe an $80,000 fine and two years of probation after his near-deadly assault on Shira Isakov in front of their toddler son
A man was sentenced on Thursday to 23 years in prison for attempting to murder his then-wife Shira Isakov in front of their toddler son, in an incident that shocked the country two years ago and has seen the victim become a champion of awareness for domestic violence.
The Beersheba District Court also sentenced Aviad Moshe — who was not present during the hearing — to 24 months of probation and a maximum fine of NIS 258,000 ($80,000).
Moshe was convicted in August of stabbing Isakov 20 times, hitting her with a rolling pin and strangling her on the eve of the Rosh Hashanah holiday on September 18, 2020, in their home in the southern town of Mitzpe Ramon. In a legal precedent, he was also charged with abusing the couple’s infant son, then a year and a half old, by repeatedly stabbing and beating his wife in front of the boy.
Isakov was critically injured in the assault and underwent emergency surgery at Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center. Since then she has undergone multiple procedures to rebuild her face.
The couple has since divorced.
“There is no need to expand on how much his actions have ruined her life, and the way back to living a normal life again is not simple at all,” Judge Yael Raz-Levi said, according to Channel 12 news.
The judge also dismissed Moshe’s defense: “[He] does not take responsibility for his actions. Blaming everything that happened on Shira. The narrative is that the complainant is the violent one, who pushed him to the edge. It is difficult to accept such remorse.”
Moshe previously admitted that he had assaulted Isakov, but claimed that he did not intend to kill her. He said she had provoked him, causing him to lose control of himself and attack her.
Isakov wrote in a social media post prior to the hearing that she “hopes and prays justice will be with us.”
Last June, police handed over evidence to prosecutors that Moshe had made additional threats from prison, telling his parents that he wanted another prisoner to use his ties to the criminal underworld to threaten Isakov, or even harm her.
Isakov has been lauded for her efforts to raise awareness of domestic violence.
She and a neighbor who saved her during her husband’s attack were both honored last April at the official torch-lighting ceremony held annually at the start of Independence Day.
