He beat his wife to death with a hammer: Josiah Leitel receives life sentence

Today (Thursday), the court sentenced Josiah Leitel to life imprisonment after convicting him of murdering his wife, Daria Leitel, in their Haifa apartment in March 2023, while their three daughters were in an adjacent room. The judges did not specify a fixed term for the sentence. Leitel was also ordered to pay 258,000 shekels in compensation to the victim’s family.

From Josiah Leitel's sentencing: "The severe circumstances of the murder, committed by the defendant against his partner due to her intention to separate from him, the horrific cruelty accompanying it, the fact that the defendant had previously harmed the complainant and even faced trial for it, the terrible damage caused by the defendant to the deceased’s daughters as well as her father and brother, the principle of proportionality, and the need to deter the public—all these, in our view, point to one just and appropriate outcome: an indeterminate life sentence."

According to the indictment, Josiah strangled his wife and attacked her with hammer blows after realizing she intended to end their relationship. After the murder, Josiah called the police and confessed to his father. He wrote letters to his daughters expressing regret for the killing.

The central issue in the trial revolved around the charge: whether it was murder or murder under aggravating circumstances. Also, there was a dispute over the cause of death, as it was unclear whether Daria died from strangulation or the hammer blows. The court chose to convict Josiah of murder but refrained from convicting him of murder under aggravating circumstances, as the prosecution had requested.

According to the indictment, the couple’s relationship was unstable, and Daria had considered leaving Josiah due to his dangerous behavior.

The couple were referred to welfare services in 2021 and Leitel had allegedly threatened to kill his wife in the past.

The head of the Revacha (Welfare Administration), Meira Kiperman, said. "The couple was treated throughout that year by social services on a number of levels."

Darya had also previously complained that her husband had threatened her in the past, with local media reporting that he was currently being tried for the threats.

Josiah reportedly told police, "I work in a nightclub. I came back around 5am completely sober. I was sitting and drinking beer. One of our daughters woke up and my wife woke up, too. She saw me drinking and got angry at me. She asked, 'Are you drinking again?'. An argument started. She pushed me and then I pushed her back. I didn't mean to kill her."

On the night of the murder, he searched her cellphone for evidence of an affair. He found messages between her and friends, from which he concluded she planned to leave him.

Later, after Daria woke up to their daughter’s crying, he confronted her. When she admitted she intended to leave him, he struck her in the ribs and strangled her, only releasing her when he felt she had stopped struggling. He checked if she was breathing, and upon realizing she was still alive, he took a hammer and struck her in the head.

Daria's close friend, Dr. Daniela Mazor, said: "Time passes quickly and very slowly. We were shocked and saddened when we learned of the murder. But the event didn't end there, it actually just started. The three girls constantly miss their mother and grow up alone. They celebrate birthdays, get up in the morning, fall and cry and she is not there to hug. The horrible event that happened became their new life, not by choice ... I miss her every day, I think about her and what we used to talk about now. My daughter asks about her and misses her too. I haven't gotten used to the fact that she's not here... When I see women who look like her on the street, I sometimes smile, and then get very sad - because they are not Dasha, they only look like her. For her daughters, no woman on the street looks like their mother, because there is no substitute for a mother. They learn life alongside grief, already at a young age."

Haipo, Kann News and Yahoo contributed to this article.