"I never imagined that by the end of this night a person would get killed. This murder wasn't planned," one of the minors accused in the kidnapping and brutal murder of Palestinian teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir last summer testified Wednesday in the Jerusalem District Court. The three Israeli Jews charged with the murder are Yosef Haim Ben-David from the settlement Adam and two accomplices from Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem, both of whom were minors at the time of the murder. The indictment alleges that the defendants killed Abu Khdeir to avenge the abduction and murder of three Jewish teenagers Gil-ad Shaer, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Fraenkel last year. One of the minors who took the stand responded to defense attorney Zion Amir's request to describe his involvement in the atrocious act while Abu Khdeir's father, Hussein, and his family watched from the courtroom's back seats. The defendant explained on the stand that Ben-David was a father figure to him after he had been estranged from his own father. The minor had testified that the night before the murder, he was driving through the streets of east Jerusalem with Ben-David, who then proposed that they kidnap a small child. "I told him that he was out of his mind and he replied 'I've always had your back, can't you do something for the sake of Israel-' He was like a father to me and I felt that saying no wasn't an option," the defendant said. The two tried and failed to abduct a child who was standing in the street next to his mother. The defendant continued to describe in detail how they ended up burning Abu Khdeir alive: "We spotted the boy sitting on a step near a grocery store. We started talking to him, and then [the third defendant] stepped out of the car and hit him in the head. "We caught him and pushed him inside the car. When we reached the forest, [the second minor] opened the door and it seemed like the Arab teen was waking up, so Ben-David asked, 'Where is the crowbar? Where is the crowbar? They [Arabs] have seven souls, don't let him get up!' and gave him two more heavy blows to the head," the defendant said. The defendant also added that Ben-David decided to burn Abu Khdeir in order to eliminate DNA traces, and that afterward they drove to Ben-David's house. He told them, "If anyone asks us of our whereabouts that night, we'll say we were playing the guitar." "I was pretty shaken up after the deed, so Ben-David gave me pink pills to help me relax," the defendant added. Abu Khdeir's father shouted at the defendant, saying "After murdering my son they were celebrating at Adam with a guitar. "This is all a lie. Not one word is true. Muhammad's mother is crying, and our hearts have been burned. This is destroying us," the father added. Ben-David's lawyer, Asher Ohayon, told the court Wednesday that his client would not be testifying due to his mental condition. The second minor in the case will testify behind closed doors.
