The Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday sentenced to four years in prison the woman who the media have nicknamed the "Taliban mother" - because she covers herself from head to toe in clothing - over three months after this mother of 12 was convicted on at least 25 counts of assault in aggravated circumstances.
Her husband was sentenced to six months in jail after he was convicted on at least 10 counts of the same crime. Although he was charged with assaulting his children, the main allegation against him was that he did nothing to stop his wife's abuse.
The mother arrived at the hearing, which was held behind closed doors, draped in her customary layers of black clothing which prevented her from seeing where she was going. She had to be guided by prison service officers down the hall from the elevator to the courtroom.
In her sentencing, Judge Nava Ben-Or wrote that the crimes committed by the mother were grave and that she had no choice but to sentence her to jail, even though it was clear the woman suffered from a severe personality disorder, "in order to express revulsion at and rejection of her deeds."
But Ben-Or added that she also had to consider factors calling for leniency, particularly the fact that several of her children had testified as character witnesses on behalf of their parents and pleaded with the court not to send them to jail.
"All of the children who took the stand unanimously asked that I not send their parents to prison," said Ben-Or. "I will repeat what A. (the eldest son) said, when he testified that he had no desire for revenge and that he absolutely did not want his mother to suffer or to see his father go to jail.
"I will recall Y.'s testimony, when he said he would feel like an orphan if his father was sentenced to prison and that this would be a harsher punishment for him than for his father."
In the same breath, Ben-Or said she could not forget the plight of D., now 17. D. is mentally retarded and was helpless to defend himself against his mother's abuse.
In fact, it was the mother's abuse of D. that exposed the affair and launched the legal proceedings against the parents. On February 2, 2008, neighbors complained to the police after seeing and hearing D. banging on the door and begging his mother to let him into the house. Although it was a winter night, he was wearing short pants and a shirt and cried that he was cold and hungry.
The police arrived and summoned welfare authorities who took him under their care. Inside, the policemen found that the house was in shambles, there were clothes strewn all over the floor, the rooms were messy and the sink was full of dirty dishes.
The investigation revealed that the mother had beaten her children with her hands, a belt, sticks and electric wire. She had punished her daughters by cutting their hair and had slashed the sports shoes of one son because it was "irreligious" to wear them. Sometimes, she did not let her children into the house and other times she did not let them out. She woke them up by pouring water on them.
The abuse went on for several decades. Many of the incidents could not be included in the indictment because of the statute of limitations.
Today, none of the children live at home. Nine of them are adults and three are minors. D., who is now 17, lives today in an institution. His twin brother studies in a boarding school.
The youngest of the children, a daughter, now lives under the care of one of her older sisters.
