French prosecutor wants six years in prison for hit-and-run driver

A Paris prosecutor demanded a six-year jail sentence on Wednesday for a French national who hit and killed an Israeli woman while driving an SUV in Tel Aviv in 2011 then fled to France to avoid prosecution.

The death of Lee Zeitouni, 25, who was crossing a street in a pedestrian zone in September 2011 when hit by the speeding vehicle, has inflamed public opinion in Israel. It also spurred a diplomatic row, Paris refusing to extradite two men involved because France does not extradite its nationals.

The trial of Eric Robic, 40, was suspended last week and pushed back to Wednesday after the lawyer of the other man on trial, the car's passenger Claude Khayat, was struck in the face in the court's toilets.

“(Robic)…is acting like a gambler … who plays with people's lives,” prosecutor Henry Guyomar said, demanding a six year jail term in rounding up his case. “In every aspect of life he seems to have no moral sense.”

Guyomar asked for Khayat, 35, to be sentenced to three years in prison, of which two years would be suspended.

Both men are being tried on the charge of non-assistance to a person in need, with Robic facing the additional more serious charge of aggravated involuntary homicide.

Robic and Khayat, who boarded a flight to France a few hours after hitting Zeitouni, have acknowledged the facts but deny going through a red light before striking Zeitouni.

Both are in jail pending a separate French investigation into organized fraud and money-laundering.

Separately, Robic was convicted in another fraud case in April and has six other convictions on his record, including driving under the influence.