A court on Sunday sentenced Edward Kachura, a psychiatric nurse, to seven years in prison for the 2021 negligent homicide of an underage patient, whom he buried in sand and then left to suffocate to death.
The Haifa District Court in September cleared Kachura, 53, of murder, but convicted him of the lesser charge since he left 17-year-old Lital Yael Melnik alone after having helped her perform a “rebirth ceremony” in which she was buried entirely in sand with a pipe to breathe through.
In sentencing Kachura, the court said it was “emphasizing the severity” of his actions, because instead of acting as the “responsible adult,” he took part in the “rebirth ceremony” rather than stopping it, and left Melnik at least partially covered in sand without ensuring that she could survive the event.
In its sentencing, the court also emphasized the additional crimes it convicted Kachura of, including having abused his position as a psychiatric nurse to have an illicit sexual relationship with Melnik, and the fact that he “systematically violated” lower court orders prohibiting him from having contact with her.
Attorneys for the family said in a statement that they will seek to appeal Kachura’s exoneration from murder.
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Despite “a certain easing of the mind” that Kachura’s request for immediate release was rejected, “the searing sense of injustice due to his exoneration from murder continues to torture the family,” the statement said.
Attorneys said they have approached the state prosecution to file an appeal against the conviction for negligent homicide rather than murder.
Lital Yael Melnik. (Facebook)
Efrat Nahmany-Bar, representing the family, told the media after the hearing that although the sentence fit the crimes for which Melnik was convicted, the family will continue to battle for a murder conviction.
“His exoneration from the crime of murder is rife with internal contradictions,” Nahmany-Bar said. “The court decision misses the true essence of the morbid and criminal controlling relationship.”
Yavi Manor of the public defender’s office, representing Kachura, said in a statement that his client is “pained by the tragic death of Yael.”
He noted that the court had accepted Kachura’s version that it was a “regrettable accident” and asserted there is much evidence to support that claim.
Manor said he would study the sentence before considering further steps.
Kachura has been under arrest since 2021, and will serve three more years behind bars, taking into account time already served. He was also ordered to pay a fine of NIS 140,000 ($43,440).
Police at the scene where the body of 17-year-old Lital Yael Melnik was found, on a construction site, in Kiryat Motzkin, October 2, 2021. (Alon Nadav/Flash90)
“How can someone who buried a girl alive not be a murderer?” asked Hagit Peer, the head of the Naamat women’s group, in a statement. “There is no disputing two facts — Lital Yael Melnick died a cruel death, and the person responsible for it will be a free man in a few years’ time.”
The Ynet outlet cited legal experts as saying Melnik is unlikely to get an early release from prison due to the sex offenses he was convicted of.
Kachura was also found guilty of unlawful intercourse with a dependent, and of violating a restraining order that Melnik’s grandmother had secured against him after discovering that he was in a relationship with the victim, whom he had met when she was under his care at a psychiatric hospital in northern Israel.
The court rejected the prosecution’s charge that Melnik’s death was caused by a violent act that prevented her from taking her head out of the sand in which she was buried.
Instead, the court found that she may have begun to lose consciousness due to a lack of oxygen by breathing through the tube, and as a result, drew sand and gravel into her lungs, causing her death.
Six girls hospitalized alongside Melnik told the Walla news site that Kachura had a “special relationship” with a number of girls at the facility.
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