The Central District Court in Lod on Thursday sentenced Moshe Atiyas to life in prison plus two additional years, after convicting him of the aggravated murder of his partner and mother of his three children, Sigalit Baruch, 54. The court also ordered Atiyas to pay the statutory maximum compensation to her family, 258,000 shekels.
According to the verdict, Atiyas killed Baruch in their bedroom in Lod in a brutal, staged attack. He struck her head seven times with a weight, then took a knife from the kitchen, returned to the bedroom, and stabbed her repeatedly in the upper body to make sure she was dead. Afterward, he left the scene, called Magen David Adom and said he had killed his wife, then tried to flee when police approached and was arrested only after crashing into a Border Police vehicle.
Atiyas did not dispute that he committed the killing, but לאורך the proceedings he claimed he suffered from a mental disorder that impaired his grasp of reality. The court rejected all of his mental health claims, saying he was an intelligent, sharp-minded man who acted with sophistication and was merely trying to improve his legal position. His lawyer had asked for reduced responsibility so he would not receive the mandatory life sentence, but that argument was also rejected.
Prosecutor Einat Lev Ari of the Central District said the case sent a clear message about domestic violence and protecting women in their homes. Sigalit Baruch’s family lawyer, Ruthi Eldar, said the court had done justice after three painful years, and Sigalit’s sister, Limor Cohen, said the family had been left shattered and that the verdict cleared her sister’s name.
