(haipo) – The State Attorney's Office filed an appeal yesterday (Wednesday, January 28, 2026) with the Supreme Court against the verdict in the case of Edward Kachura, who was convicted of causing the death through negligence of Little Yael Melnik, aged 17, and requests that he be convicted of a more serious offense, She died lightly.The decision to file the appeal was made based on the opinion of the Deputy State Attorney for Criminal Matters, Attorney Efrat Greenbaum.
According to the Haifa District Court ruling, the incident occurred about four years ago at a construction site in Kiryat Motzkin, where the body of the late Little Yael Melnik was found buried in the sand. Kachura, who was 49 years old at the time of the incident, met the deceased through his work as a nurse at a psychiatric hospital, where she was hospitalized. Despite a restraining order issued against him, an illicit relationship developed between the two, after Melnik developed significant feelings for him during her hospitalization.
On the night of the incident, Kachura took an active part in what the court ruling called a “burial ceremony,” during which Melnik’s body was covered in sand, using a breathing tube, and then Kachura left the scene, leaving the body at the scene.
The District Court convicted Kachura of causing death by negligence and other offenses and sentenced him, among other things, to seven years in prison.
In an appeal filed with the Supreme Court, the State Attorney's Office, through the Director of the Criminal Department at the State Attorney's Office, Attorney Rachel Matar, and Attorney Muhammad Sarahne, claims that under the circumstances of the case, including Kachura's active involvement in creating the dangerous situation, his deep familiarity with the deceased's mental state, the significant age gap and the relationship of dependency between them, he should have been aware of the possibility of a fatal outcome.
According to the prosecution, Kachura took an unreasonable risk to the life of the late Melnik, in a way that establishes criminal liability for the offense of reckless homicide and not just negligence. As part of the appeal, the prosecution is asking the Supreme Court to determine that the appropriate normative labeling for Kachura's actions is the offense of reckless homicide, which correctly and accurately reflects the severity of the acts and the degree of culpability that accompanied them.
The proceedings in the Haifa District Court were conducted on behalf of the state by Attorney Maya Hazan Dahan of the Haifa District Attorney's Office.