Man who burned his young children to death in 1999 dies in prison
Erez Tivoni murdered Idan, 4, and Avital, 2, during a supervised visit with a welfare officer; had also planned to kill his ex-wife and flee to US
Erez Tivoni, 56, who murdered both his children in May 1999, was found unconscious in his cell in Ayalon Prison on Saturday morning, Hebrew-language media reported.
He was taken to Shamir Medical Center, where his death was pronounced.
Having divorced their mother, Tivoni was meeting his children at a Wizo facility in Tel Aviv in the presence of a welfare officer.
When the officer briefly left the room, Tivoni poured flammable liquid on his children, Idan, 4, and Avital, 2, and set them on fire.
He confessed to the double homicide and was sentenced to two life sentences.
According to the Israel Police, Tivoni had planned to murder his wife as well and then flee the country, having bought a plane ticket to the US for the day following the murder of his children, the Ynet news site reported.
הלך לעולמו בתאו ארז טבעוני, שרצח את ילדיו בפרשה שזעזעה את המדינה: טבעוני רצח במאי 1999 את ילדיו, עידן בן ה-4 ואביטל בת השנתיים. הוא שפך עליהם חומר דליק והצית אותם, כשפקידת הסעד בוויצ"ו יצאה מהחדר. "אם אני לא אראה אותם, אף אחד לא יראה אותם", אמר אז. היום… https://t.co/ysJneocz1M
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The report said the police investigator said that “the calm atmosphere [Tivoni] created upon meeting his children was aimed at tricking the social worker into leaving the room.”
Alongside toys and candies, the bag he brought to the facility also had a commando knife and an electric shocker, which he had bought a few days earlier, as well as a letter addressed to his wife saying, “You asked for this. I only carried it out.”
Corroborating the police’s suspicion, Tivoni stated in his testimony that he had “left the house and gone to a gas station and bought a liter and a half of gasoline.” About his children, he said: “If I don’t see them, no one will.”
According to Walla news site, his divorcee filed a lawsuit against the state for over NIS 1 million, alleging that authorities’ negligence led to the murder of her children.
According to the Maariv news site, Tel Aviv District Court justices Nathan Amit, Edna Kaplan-Hagler and Avraham Tal stressed in their sentence that “mere words cannot express the extent of the defendant’s atrocities,” describing them as “some of the most gruesome that the legal system in Israel, and perhaps the world, have ever encountered.”
The judges went on to excoriate the defendant for describing himself as “having been a good father to the children” and for comparing his loss to that of their mother.
