Tel Aviv musician sentenced to life for murdering wife
Court rejected claims that Ilan Ben Ami was mentally incompetent or under the influence when he killed Dafna Bar Zion
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The Tel Aviv District Court sentenced musician Ilan Ben Ami to life in prison on Sunday for the August 2014 murder of his wife, singer Dafna Bar Zion.
Ben Ami was also ordered by the court to compensate Bar Zion’s daughter in the maximum amount of 258,000 shekels ($71,000).
At the conclusion of the sentencing, Bar Zion’s sister, Ronit, thanked the court for ensuring that Ben Ami would remain behind bars indefinitely. “The pain will stay with us. This is all we had left,” she said, holding back tears.
In January, the court ruled that Ben Ami had deliberately murdered his partner, musician and restaurateur Dafna Bar Zion, at their south Tel Aviv apartment in a premeditated act. The court ruling also charged Ben Ami with making threats and obstruction of justice.
During the reading of the verdict, the presiding judge said that the evidence was not strong enough to prove that Ben Ami suffered from any mental illness or was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the murder. She went on to characterize him as “untrustworthy and manipulative.”
The three judges, who unanimously convicted the guitarist, described him as “obsessive” and jealous, saying his behavior toward Bar Zion before her death included “threats, breaking objects, insults, and humiliation.”
On the day of the murder, the couple had fought as Bar Zion attempted to end their relationship, the court said.
Ben Ami then took a one-kilogram hammer, “approached the deceased, who was facing the doorway, and hit her twice forcefully until she fell,” the legal documents said. “With the deceased on the ground, the defendant covered her head with a garment and continued to pound her head with the hammer many times.”
The judges also ruled out psychosis, saying Ben Ami was in control of his actions at the time of the murder.
After the murder, Ben Ami fled the scene, setting off a three-day manhunt.
The two married in 2012, and had separated earlier in 2014.
Ben Ami was the guitarist for the Habreira Hativit band.
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