A California resident was sentenced Thursday to 212 years in prison for killing his two autistic sons, who drowned after he deliberately threw the family car off a pier in the port of Los Angeles in an attempt to touch the insurance money.
Ali Elmezayen, 45, had waited to commit his crime on April 9, 2015 and the expiry of the waiting period for the last of the many insurance policies he had taken out for his family, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Federal of Los Angeles.
In the back of his vehicle were his boys aged 8 and 13, both with severe autism, who wore seat belts and drowned.
Raba Diab, ex-wife of Ali Elmezayen who was in the front of the car, could not swim and could also have drowned if a fisherman had not thrown a buoy at her.
Ali Elmezayen, for his part, had easily slipped out of the car through the window which he had taken care to leave open and had swam to the quay.
He subsequently collected more than $ 260,000 in compensation from various insurance policies taken out in the event of the death of his children and invested the sum in real estate purchases in Egypt, his country of origin, as well as in a boat.
Judge John F. Walter sentenced Ali Elmezayen to the maximum sentence prescribed by law, stressing in his judgment the “diabolical schemes” and “the vicious and ruthless nature of his crimes”.
“He is the ultimate impostor and liar (…) His only regret is to have been caught”, continued the judge, who ordered this “greedy killer” to return to the insurance companies the sums collected. .
The prosecutor’s office is convinced that the man had long prepared the murder of his children and his wife, whom they believed was physically and emotionally abusing.
From July 2012 to March 2013, Ali Elmezayen had taken out insurance on the life of his family from eight different companies, for a total amount exceeding three million dollars. He paid $ 6,000 a year in premiums while declaring annual income of less than $ 30,000 to the tax authorities.