2 nabbed in alleged rape of teen tourist at TA beach

African migrant allegedly followed girl into bathroom, stole her cellphone and then raped her.

By BEN HARTMAN
Tel Aviv beach 370 (photo credit: Reuters Photographer / Reuters)
Tel Aviv beach 370
(photo credit: Reuters Photographer / Reuters)
Tel Aviv Police on Wednesday arrested two men in connection to the rape of a teenage girl from South Africa at a public bathroom at Tel Aviv’s Banana Beach 10 days ago.
According to police, on the night of July 1, the 17-year-old tourist told police she had been raped in a public bathroom at the beach, and her cellphone stolen. Police traced the phone and found it in the possession of an Israeli Arab.
The man told police he bought it from an African migrant man living in Tel Aviv, who was tracked down and arrested on Wednesday night.
The two suspects – both of whom are in their 20s – were brought before the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court for a remand extension on Thursday, where the Sudanese man’s remand was extended by five days and the Israeli Arab man’s remand by three days.
The latter was released on bail on Thursday.
In court, police said that they believe that only the African migrant man was present at the time of the rape, and that he later sold the phone to the second suspect. Police said the African migrant man told them that he bought the phone from someone else.
Police added that they had the victim do a photo line-up of the suspect, but she picked out a different man in the pictures.
Last month, a 25-year-old American tourist told police she was raped by two men in the back of a store at the Jaffa flea market during the middle of the day on June 24. The two men were indicted several days later for the assault.