Beersheba stabbing suspect denies was at scene

The court extended Ohion's custody by eight days. Ohion is the primary suspect in the Gadi Vichman case, stabbed for asking for quiet.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
crime scene (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [illustrative])
crime scene
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [illustrative])
A 22-year-old man arrested on suspicion of stabbing to death a father of two who asked him to keep the noise down in Beersheba denied he was ever at the murder scene, his lawyer said Monday.
Idan Ohion was arrested on Sunday evening on suspicion of murdering Gadi Vichman, 35, early on Saturday morning. An additional eight suspects – four of whom were allegedly at the park where the stabbing took place – were arrested with him.
Attorney Itai Itzhak said his client denied being at the scene, following a remand hearing for his client at the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court.
The court extended Ohion’s custody by eight days.
A 17-year-old girl who was present at the scene, and who was tracked down after her teacher reported her missing from school on Sunday, had her custody extended by one day. The girl was part of the group that allegedly included the stabber.
The girl reenacted the events of the murder before detectives on Sunday in full view of Vichman’s widow, Michal, who watched from her balcony. She witnessed the killing of her husband from the same location, before running downstairs to try and help him.
The court said the girl had cooperated fully with police and had no criminal past, unlike the remainder of the suspects, who have criminal records. It rejected the police’s request to keep her in custody for several more days.
Police said the identity of the attackers became apparent in the hours after the attack, but that detectives waited before making arrests in order to carry out surveillance on the youths – which included tapping their phones – in order to gather evidence against them.
Four of the suspects present at the scene were arrested in hideouts, while five others were arrested for aiding and abetting them.
The arrests followed an intensive investigation by the the Negev police subdistrict’s central unit.
Meanwhile, in Rehovot, the Magistrate’s Court extended by eight days the custody of three teenagers suspected of chasing down and stabbing to death 17-year-old Orgil Mauti.
Police say the attack was premeditated, and that each suspect brought a knife or sharp object with the intention of stabbing Mauti.
The mother of one suspect and the sister of another were also remanded in custody for a few days due to suspicions that they assisted their relatives in evading police. The efforts allegedly included an attempt by the sister to get rid of bloodstained clothes.
“They have all reenacted the murder. The third reenactment was held today,” a police spokeswoman said on Monday.
One teen claimed during questioning that Mauti beat him, while another said that the murder victim owed him “100 shekels.”