Police arrest Eritrean suspected of murdering wife
07/07/2012 22:11
Suspect identified by other Eritreans, police arrest man after dramatic pursuit.
Police at Tel Aviv Central Bus Station Photo: Ricardo Mallaco
Police arrested a 28-year-old Eritrean national in south Tel Aviv’s Hatikva
neighborhood Saturday on suspicion of murdering his wife last week.
The
body of an 18-year-old Eritrean woman was recovered on Wednesday night near the
central bus station and police launched a murder investigation.
On
Saturday night, two Eritrean men who identified the murdered woman’s husband on
the street attempted to stop him.
The husband produced a knife and began
chasing the two men, said Asst.-Cmdr.
David Gez, head of the Yiftah
police sub-district in south Tel Aviv.
“One of the men who stopped the
husband knew him as they were from the same village,” Gez added.
Within
minutes, police patrol vehicles that were in the area arrived on the scene, and
two policemen chased the knife-wielding suspect.
A Special Patrol Officer
tackled the suspect and made an arrest.
“He is cooperating in
questioning,” Gez said. “We expect a reenactment of the murder in the coming
hours.”
Police do not yet know what exactly motivated the suspect to
allegedly kill his wife, and did not elaborate on how the murder was carried
out.
Detectives say they are aware of a dispute between the couple, which
might be linked to the fact that the woman joined her husband in Israel without
his permission, leaving behind their young son in Eritrea.
The suspect
was found with cash on him, and police believe he was planning on hiding out. He
worked in Kfar Saba for a private contractor doing gardening jobs, police added.
The suspect lived with his brother in the same apartment as his wife.