Police arrest four Bat Yam teens for allegedly raping 12-year-old

Attorney for 13-year-old suspect claims victim offered to be client’s girlfriend.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Four boys aged 13 to 17 were arrested in and around their homes in Bat Yam on Monday, on suspicion of subjecting a 12-year-old girl to repeated gang rape over a period of two years.
Police launched an undercover investigation after the girl sent a letter to her school principal last week detailing the alleged ordeal, in which she asked, “How can I make this stop?” The school contacted social services, which then filed a complaint with police.
Youth officers from Tel Aviv Police’s Ayalon station suspect that the offenses began when the girl was 10 years old.  Police believe the sexual offenses were carried out in an array of public places, including near the school the youths attended.
Attorneys representing the suspects said sexual relations had been consensual, and denied that any rape had taken place.
A Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court extended the remand of a 17-year-oldsuspect by three days, while three 13-year-olds were released to housearrest for two weeks.
Hagit Rahmani-Weiss, who represents a 13-year-old suspect, toldreporters on Monday that the girl “had attempted to make friends with agroup of boys who were playing soccer in the neighborhood. Sheinterfered with their game, offered them candy, and offered to be myclient’s girlfriend. He agreed to her request to kiss him. Shecontinued to seek his attention, but he refused on most occasions.”
Attorneys for the younger suspects argued that the teens had been 12years old when the majority of the alleged offenses took place, andtheir young age would make it impossible to prosecute them.
The mother of the 17-year-old suspect denied that her son had committedany offenses, telling reporters that the girl had “set up my son.”


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