A Palestinian man residing illegally in Israel was indicted on Sunday for the
rape of a woman on the Ashkelon beach.
According to the indictment,
served in the Beersheba District Court, 23- year-old Mohammed Tarodi from the
West Bank is alleged to have raped the 22- year-old woman just over a week ago
as she lay sunbathing next to her boyfriend.
Both the woman – who cannot
be named as is standard practice for sexual assault and rape victims – and her
boyfriend were asleep when Tarodi allegedly first saw them at around 2 p.m. that
afternoon.
The indictment alleges that Tarodi approached the woman, who
was lying on her stomach and wearing a swimsuit, and stroked her hair, back and
buttocks as she slept.
Tarodi then allegedly lowered his trousers and
raped the woman, knowing that she was sleeping and could not give her
consent.
During the attack, the woman awoke in shock and saw Tarodi as he
hitched up his trousers and ran away, the indictment alleges.
The woman
immediately woke her boyfriend, who saw she was emotionally distressed and in
tears, again according to the indictment.
The state attorney’s office
also served a request that Tarodi be remanded in custody for the duration of the
legal proceedings against him, in which they charge that two witnesses saw the
woman’s distress after the alleged rape and called the police.
The remand
request charges that Tarodi is a danger to the public, because he allegedly
committed the rape in public as the victim’s boyfriend slept beside her, and
because as an illegal resident he is a flight risk.
Tarodi will be
formally arraigned in the Beersheba District Court on January 8.
The
state attorney’s office also filed separate indictments against two other
illegal Palestinian residents who allegedly witnessed the rape, charging them
with failing to prevent a crime and with illegal residency.
Mohammed
Aldoda and Mohammed Zama’ara allegedly witnessed the attack on the victim, the
indictments against them charge.
In a remand hearing for both Zama’ara
and Aldoda in the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court on Sunday, Zama’ara’s defense
attorney, Akram Hasuna, argued that there was no evidence his client had failed
to prevent a crime and that others had been present on the beach during the
alleged events, including a fisherman, but they had not been
indicted.
The police had previously told reporters that a fisherman saw
the victim’s boyfriend chasing the man who assaulted her, and called the
police.
Hasuna said it was “shameful” that Zama’ara and Aldoda, both of
whom he said cooperated with the police, were charged with failing to prevent a
crime.
Avital Zaguri, for the state, charged that Zama’ara and Aldoda
witnessed the alleged rape and could have prevented it even if they did not know
beforehand it was going to happen. The court will convene again on Tuesday
regarding the state’s request to remand Zama’ara and Aldoda for the duration of
the proceedings.