Father remanded for alleged murder of son

Attorney for Muhammad Sarsur, whose son was killed, says police removed knives from neighbors' home for analysis.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
MUHAMMAD SARSUR looks at spot where boy’s body was found 370 (photo credit: Ben Hartman)
MUHAMMAD SARSUR looks at spot where boy’s body was found 370
(photo credit: Ben Hartman)
A man suspected of brutally murdering his 10-year-old son in an olive grove was ordered to remain in custody by the Ramle Magistrate’s Court on Thursday as the police’s murder investigation continues.
Homicide detectives from the police central district this week arrested Muhammad Sarsur, of Kafr Kasim, after he became the prime suspect in the murder of his son Anas, whose body was found near the family home with severe injury marks.
“We have attributed the suspicion of murder to him [the father],” the police representative told the magistrate’s court during the remand hearing.
The representative refused to discuss the alleged motive for the slaying or detail the evidence, but said police amassed enough to support the suspicions against the father.
The representative said the suspect’s home had been intensively searched, as well as his cellphone. Police were waiting for forensic results from an autopsy carried out on the boy’s body, he added.
During police questioning in recent days, the father was asked why he did not cry over his son’s violent death, according to Sarsur’s attorney Anwar Fareej, who slammed the question as illegitimate.
It was “unfeasible that someone who was a good father, who cared and worried for his child, would do something like this,” Fareej said.
He also said police removed knives from the homes of neighbors to analyze them.
The attorney criticized police for the slow pace of the investigation.
Ramle Magistrate’s Court Judge David Shoham rejected Fareej’s request for the suspect to be released from custody, but also did not fully comply with the police’s request to keep Sarsur in custody for 10 days, extending his remand by a week instead.
Earlier this week, Sarsur’s brother, Mahmoud, told The Jerusalem Post: “The family has suffered two murders; first Anas was murdered and now a second time when police arrested Muhammad.”
The boy’s body was found over the weekend after he was reported missing by his father.