Soccer player suspected in deadly hit-and-run released to house arrest
Judge rejects Yitzhak Asefa’s request to join his club’s practices, more than a week after hitting and killing Ari Nesher, son of acclaimed director
Israeli Premier League soccer player Yitzhak Asefa was released Tuesday to house arrest for nine days over a Tel Aviv hit-and-run last week in which a teenager was killed, with a judge rejecting his request to join his team’s practices.
Asefa, 20, hit two electric bike riders early Monday morning on the city’s northern Rokach Boulevard, with one of them — 17-year-old Ari Nesher, the son of acclaimed Israeli director Avi Nesher — succumbing to his wounds four days later. He was buried on Sunday.
The second teenager injured in the accident was taken to Petah Tikva’s Beilinson Hospital, where he is recovering from moderate injuries.
Asefa fled the scene after the accident. He was arrested shortly thereafter by police, who said his blood alcohol level was found to be five times the legal limit.
At first he kept silent in police interrogations, but began cooperating Saturday after meeting with his new lawyer, who was appointed by his soccer team, F.C. Ashdod. Still, he has not confessed to hitting Nesher.
Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court judge Alaa Masarwa said “the time isn’t ripe” for Asefa to rejoin his club’s practices, but also rejected police’s request to keep him under house arrest for 30 days.
In a previous remand hearing, Judge Roy Peri said “the root of all evil in this case is the offense of abandoning two teenagers who are lying on the road, drenched in blood. The incident’s circumstances tell of [Asefa’s] dangerousness, ugly actions and anti-social behavior.”
According to a Wednesday Hadashot TV news report, Asefa and seven other friends had purchased three bottles of vodka and won an extra bottle at a club they visited the night of the accident.
It remained unclear whether Asefa himself drank from that alcohol before getting into his car and hitting Nesher. While police said they deemed that he had alcohol in his system upon his arrest, it is possible that he had consumed it after fleeing the scene.
Authorities said at the time they were still questioning Asefa’s friends and witnesses at the bar to confirm his conduct that evening.
The Times of Israel Community.