Murderer of Rinat Rouas convicted on new DNA findings

Unanimous verdict finds Bilal Shakar guilty in 2005 killing

By UDI SHAHAM
Updated: AUGUST 22, 2017 01:28
Rinat Raus (photo credit: ADI ISRAEL - REPRODUCTION)
Rinat Raus
(photo credit: ADI ISRAEL - REPRODUCTION)
The Beersheba District Court on Monday convicted Bilal Shakar in the 2005 murder of 20-year-old Rinat Rouas at a construction site in Ashdod.
Shakar was also convicted of rape and sodomy.
He denied any wrongdoing and, even after the unanimous conviction, insisted that he is innocent.
The 30-year-old man from the village of Bu’eine Nujeidat in the Galilee was arrested in 2014 after he was involved in an assault in Kiryat Malachi that had nothing do to with the Rinat Rouas case.
During the Kiryat Malchi investigation, a DNA sample was taken from him and a match was discovered with samples found on Rouas’s body.
Shakar had claimed during the investigation that he never worked in Ashdod, but later admitted that he did, including at the time of the murder. According to the indictment document, Shakar said he never met Rouas, but could not provide any explanation as to why his DNA was found on her body.
Before the reading of the verdict, a quarrel erupted between the Rouas and Shakar families.
“He [Shakar] finished our lives [exhausted us]. We have no life because of him,” yelled Rouas’s mother, Jacqueline. A relative of Shakar yelled back: “Shut up, you are lying.”
After the verdict was read, Jacqueline shouted at Shakar: “You will rot in prison, there is a God.”
Attorney Tal Adir-Cohen, who represented the State Attorney’s Office, welcomed the decision and expressed her hope that th conviction will bring solace to the Rouas family.
“Today, the court convicted Bilal Shaker for his actions on that tragic night in May 2005 when he brutally murdered and raped Rinat Rouas. After 12 years, we can finally say this story got its closure,” she said.
“The DNA traces that the murderer left after him led to his conviction. We have nothing but to hope that knowing that the murderer of their daughter will sit in prison for the rest of his life will bring solace to the deceased’s family,” she added.