Rehovot men who gouged cab driver's eye with screwdriver jailed for 8 years

"A Petach Tikvah court on Sunday convicted two defendants in the brutal robbery of a cab driver in which they stabbed him in the eye before taking off with NIS 100.

The two defendants, Ofer Finko, 21 and Gara Morositz, 19, both from Rehovot, pled guilty to aggravated robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime.

The indictment states that the two defendants were searching for a car to break into in Rehovot and when they didn't find a suitable target, they called a taxi station nearby and ordered a cab to take them to Kibbutz Palmahim.

The two then rode with the cab driver, Yaakov Mizrachi towards Palmahim, and when they got to a junction near the kibbutz the two defendants began beating Mizrachi. When Mizrachi tried to protect himself against the attackers, they stabbed him in the eye with the screwdriver, causing him to lose his left eye.

Despite the severity of the crime, the two were given only 8 years in prison due to their agreement to sign a plea bargain"

Source: Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondent. Men who gouged cab driver's eye with screwdriver jailed for 8 years. Haaretz.com (5 October 2008) [FullText]