TA police nab migrants for attacking girls
06/11/2012 02:56
US-Israeli man tells 'Post' he confronted African migrant who tried to steal his cellphone at beach.
Attraper les criminels ou prévenir de futurs actes Photo: © Reuters
Police arrested an Eritrean migrant in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening on suspicion of carrying out indecent acts on a 13- year-old girl.
The alleged attack occurred in a public park in the south of the city. A passerby who noticed the incident contacted police, who arrived within minutes and made an arrest.
Also on Saturday, Tel Aviv police arrested an Eritrean migrant on suspicion of sexually attacking a teenage girl as she bathed in the sea. According to police, a lifeguard and a policeman who heard shouts from the water rushed in and found the migrant allegedly attacking a 14-year-old girl.
Police suspect the migrant touched the 14-year-old girl and forced her head under the water before she screamed for help.
Meanwhile, a US-Israeli man told The Jerusalem Post Sunday that he confronted an African migrant who tried to steal his cellphone on Saturday night on a Tel Aviv beach.
Max Kuperman, 27, of Tel Aviv, who made aliya from Ohio four years ago, described the incident as traumatic.
“I didn’t expect this to happen. I was sitting with a female friend at 11:30 p.m. on the beach across from the American embassy. I put my cellphone in my sandal next to me, and looked out into the sea.
“Suddenly, I looked back and saw that a migrant had my phone in his hand,” he recalled.
Kuperman ordered the man to return his phone. “I said, ‘what the hell are you doing with it?’ He handed it back, while making threatening gestures.
He walked off quickly with a friend. I contacted police immediately, who arrived and began questioning migrants.”
“It’s scary to think what would have happened if a woman had to face that alone without the ability to defend herself,” he said.
Later, he added, on the same beach, he saw a security guard involved in a loud confrontation with two migrants, one of whom was the man who tried to steal his phone. The guard accused them of trying to steal possessions and ordered them to leave the beach.
“The two men yelled at him, very loudly and unpleasantly,” he added.