Posted on 11/13/2022 9:34:19 PM PST by Words Matter
A., the father of the 10-year-old girl who was attacked by a Bedouin burglar about two years ago on the eve of Holy Shabbat in her bed, while she was still dressed in her Shabbat dress, tells in a chilling interview with Erel Segal about the testimony the girl gave to the police: "He took out a contraceptive and opened it, she thought it was a pill" - The reason for their agreement to the plea deal: "A lawyer told us that in light of the findings - if we don't sign a plea deal there will be no conviction" - And the frustration with the justice system: "I would have preferred to be tried by the Bedouins in a field trial"
Digital 14, 19 Cheshvan 5783 (11/13/22)
A., the father of the 10-year-old girl who was attacked two years ago on Shabbat evening in her bed in the Negev by a Bedouin who broke into the family home with his friends, who was sentenced last Wednesday to only 5 years in prison, says this evening (Sunday) in an interview with Erel Segal about the testimony - The chilling story that the girl gave to the police, about the anger following the lenient sentence and the expectations that were not met the morning of the hearing.
Watch the chilling interview with A., the girl's father.
"It is so irrelevant, inappropriate and humiliating for the girl"
"I was not surprised by the sentence," the father declares at the beginning of the interview and returns to that terrible morning after the rape when he was asked to come with the girl to the police station for physical examinations: "They asked me to come with the girl to the examinations in order to see what evidence they could find in the organs."
A. mentions in the same context the case of Nirit Zamora, in which the court ruled in the first hearing of her case that it is not possible to know whether the terrorist (Hamza Faiz) who came to murder her in the attack in Gush Etzion actually meant it because of the length of the knife: "This is the case that just crossed my mind that morning of the tests. The matter of these tests and of this penetration - they want to check if he entered a centimeter or three or thirty."
"It's so irrelevant, inappropriate and humiliating for the girl," he adds angrily, "that I screamed at the policeman who was there that unequivocally I'm not bringing the girl to the tests and that we're going to give her testimony the next morning. And that's what we did - she gave a professional testimony, in front of a child investigator who took the testimony second by second."
A lawyer said: "If we don't sign a plea deal, there won't be a conviction at all"
"They have everything recorded and photographed, that's what was passed on to the judge," he alludes to the claim that the rapist's confession is required, "beyond that nothing is needed to prove this thing. There are DNA tests that match the descriptions she described - everything exists. It is not known how it got to the point where it dragged on for two years until such a ridiculous sentence was handed down."
When A is asked by Segal, who is on the verge of tears, about signing the plea agreement, the father says that he physically did not sign anything and explains: "We had an agreement following a consultation with the lawyer who told us that in light of the findings - if we do not sign a plea deal, there won't be a conviction at all in such a case."
A. is also furious at the attempt to present the rapist as having repented, this while it was made clear to the family that he did not confess to the crime itself but to the attempted crime: "What does the judge say that he repented? Where did she get that from?!" He adds, "Five days later, when they caught him, he was in the middle of another break-in. He has a case for another 30 break-ins with the same gang that terrorized the entire area for weeks before."
"He took out a plastic bag, opened it and did what he did"
At this point, A returns to the testimony given by the girl to the child investigator mentioned earlier, with hair-raising words and particularly harsh descriptions: "The man knew what he was going to do. He came with a contraceptive, he took it out of his pocket - this is part of the girl's testimony. She described "It's like a pill, she didn't know what it was," he continues and apparently adds from the girl's words: "He took out a plastic bag, opened it and did what he did." "There was rape for all intents and purposes, in the worst possible way in the world - in her bed, on Shabbat evening - a girl in a Shabbat dress," he adds with a cry, "with three other children sleeping in the same room. They went from bed to bed and checked who was the ideal victim for them."
I would prefer to be judged by them in a field trial"
Regarding the sentence handed down by the judge - only 5 years, despite the prosecution's demand for 10 years, he says: "I can't understand any of them and I don't try to understand any of them. I think it's a shame and disgrace. It's a disgrace of the first degree. For me, this trial should become a trial of the monkeys - as was the case in the US on completely different matters - they think that we monkeys do not know anything," he says angrily towards the judicial system, "and they, the educated elite, can, according to 'professional semantics', confuse our minds and cause judgments that are not even funny."
"In Bedouin society, if something like this happened, the family of this person would disappear that night and never return to the border of Israel. If they returned, they would slaughter the person on the spot, and if not him, then his brother and his father, and he would pay What a 10 million dinar fine. Frankly? I would prefer to be tried by them in a 'Drumhead court-martial'."
I lived in Oman many years ago. Though one may disagree with tribal justice it was just. A mom and daughter were both raped and killed. The perpetrator was caught. He was given to the brothers and sisters for punishment. It was a long day in the desert for the rapist murderer, a very long day.
Poor girl and father, they will never completely heal. Sad.
They would call it a long just day.
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