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Border Police officer confesses to killing comrade while playing with a pistol
A Border Police officer who is on trial for allegedly killing his comrade while playing with his gun, and then attempting to cover up the crime by staging the death as a suicide, confessed to the act on Sunday.
According to the indictment, in 2021, Afik Toibi shot fellow police officer Sgt. Naim Maadi while both were at their base in the northern city of Acre.
The charge sheet stated that Toibi walked into the room that he shared with Maadi, removed the magazine from his pistol, but apparently not a bullet that was already in the chamber, and then pointed the gun at Maadi’s head and said, “Look,” before pulling the trigger and shooting him in the face.
Then, instead of getting Maadi medical assistance, Toibi staged the body and the gun to appear as though Maadi had shot himself and told others that he had committed suicide, according to the indictment.
He then attempted to remove evidence that he’d pulled the trigger by cleaning his hands with hand sanitizer, according to prosecutors.
Medical examiners initially suspected that Maadi had killed himself, but further investigation determined that this was not the case.
Toibi’s confession Sunday came after he had maintained throughout his investigation and the trial that Maadi had shot himself. He also admitted to trying to make the death look like a suicide.
His attorneys told the court that while he has admitted to shooting Maadi, it was not an intentional or malicious act, as he had considered the dead officer “his best friend.”
![](https://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2021/02/photo_2021-02-19_13-25-52-e1613734903527-640x400.jpg)
The late Sgt. Naim Maadi in an undated photo. (Police Spokesperson)
Toibi’s initial charge of involuntary manslaughter was raised to murder with depraved indifference following a petition filed to the High Court by Madi’s family appealing for the indictment to be amended.
Toibi was also indicted for obstruction of justice, making threats, battery and sexual assault.
In light of the indictment against Toibi, the head of the Border Police ordered an internal investigation of the Acre border guard unit.
Maadi was considered an outstanding policeman during his mandatory service. He was buried in his hometown of Julis.
His father Zohadi, himself a retired border officer, said on Sunday that while Toibi’s confession “makes things a little easier,” there was no comfort for the family.
“It is impossible to atone for this heinous murder, and it is impossible to cover up the loss our family will feel forever,” he said, according to the Ynet news site. “This is a wound that will never heal. The defendant’s claims, throughout the proceedings, that our dear and beloved son committed suicide are unforgivable.”
Zohadi also claimed that Toibi’s confession was “merely a ploy” by his attorneys to “make him seem regretful and expedite the trial.”
“For us, this is all a pathetic, miserable lie, designed to paint a certain picture of the event in his favor in order to mitigate his future punishment,” he said.