A 17-year-old Bedouin resident of the Negev was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday by the Beersheba Juvenile Court for raping a 10-year-old Israeli child.
According to the charges, the suspect broke into the young Israeli's home and proceeded to sexually assault the girl. He was also found guilty of theft.
The rape occurred after the suspect arrived in the middle night with two others at the home, in a southern Israeli town, looking to steal valuables from the house.
As per the Beersheba court, the accused suspect entered the 10-year-old's room while looking for valuable items and sat on her bed, before sexually abusing the girl, whose scream scared the criminals off. The men stole around NIS 50 in cash and toys from the child's room.
The suspect confessed and plead guilty to his crimes as part of a plea deal agreement that saw him receive only five years in prison instead of the seven requested by the prosecution.
Beersheba mayor: This is Israel's wake-up call
Beersheba Mayor Rubik Danilovich attacked the court for what he called a "loose sentence" in a Wednesday interview given to Channel 12.
"The State of Israel lost its way," the mayor lamented. "These loose sentences only invite more and more disturbing incidents...this is Israel's wake-up call," Danilovich said.
"In any other culture, this person would not be able to leave his house alive, but here...this is how a society crumbles."