Man acquitted of threatening to murder his wife after she admitted: "I exaggerated"

The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court recently acquitted a man who was accused of a series of serious threats against his wife's life, after the woman admitted in court that she had exaggerated in her police complaint and that some of the things "never happened."

According to the original indictment, a heated argument broke out between the couple late at night last September. During the argument, it was alleged, the husband threatened his wife that he would murder her in her sleep, strangle her, and slit her throat. It was further alleged that he threatened to burn her and her business, and even said he would send "Arabs to the business." At the end of the argument, the original indictment stated, the husband went down to the street and smashed the window of their shared car with a stone.

However, a completely different picture emerged in court. The husband, through his attorney Tali Hazum, admitted only to breaking the car window, explaining that he did so because he needed the keys to his electric bicycle that were in the glove compartment, after being stranded at night without public transportation. Regarding the other accusations, he claimed they were lies. According to him, the argument started after he asked his wife why she was looking for soccer players on her mobile phone, and in response, she cursed him and demanded he leave the house.

The wife, for her part, through her attorneys Roi Chen and Adar Idan, confirmed in court that her husband had indeed accused her of infidelity and therefore she was agitated that night. But the big twist came when she openly admitted that her statements to the police were exaggerated: she said that in reality, her husband only cursed her and did not threaten her, and even admitted that she did not see him smash the car window. The complainant noted that their relationship is good today, and said that she was forced to file the complaint against her will and now she is asking to close the case.

The judge: "I cannot determine what the wording of the things was"

Judge Itai Harmelin accepted the woman's updated testimony and determined that her retraction of the accusations in court was an "authentic and credible reaction." He clarified that since the things she told the police officer in real time were only general, a legal doubt was created that does not allow for the husband's conviction.

"Even if there is a high probability that these were threats," the judge explained in the verdict, "since I cannot determine beyond a reasonable doubt what the wording of the things was, I cannot determine that these were indeed threats in their legal sense." The charge of smashing the car window was also rejected by the court, after the judge defined the act as "de minimis" — that is, a minor offense that does not justify a criminal conviction. The judge justified this by the fact that the incident occurred at night without witnesses and did not spill over into public panic, while the defendant had no other realistic choice to get his bicycle to return home.

Videos in the AI era? "Must ensure admissibility"

Another key point in the acquittal was the disqualification of photographic evidence submitted by the prosecution. The judge refused to accept photos and a video from the night of the incident because it was not proven who filmed them, due to concerns about forgery by artificial intelligence software.

"In these days, when almost anyone can use artificial intelligence software to create images, videos, and audio files that cannot be identified as fake... the importance of adhering to rules for the admissibility of such evidence arises again," Judge Harmelin clarified, and ultimately ordered the full acquittal of the husband.