Attorney-general to weigh rape indictment of ex-prison warden

The statement was issued at the conclusion of their investigation of Shoham Yosef, the former warden of the high security Ayalon Prison.

By BEN HARTMAN
Crime scene [illustrative] (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Crime scene [illustrative]
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
There is evidence to support allegations that a senior Prisons Service warden raped a female subordinate on a number of occasions, police said in a statement on Thursday.
The statement was issued at the conclusion of their investigation of Shoham Yosef, the former warden of the high security Ayalon Prison.
According to police, investigators “found evidence that on a number of occasions during his time serving in the Prisons Service, Shoham Yosef committed the crimes of rape and sexual assault against a female subordinate while exploiting the power of his position.”
The police will now hand the findings of the investigation over to the Attorney-General’s Office, which will decide whether to file an indictment.
The investigation was launched after Prisons Service officials turned to the police following a complaint made by the female subordinate against Yosef.
In an unrelated incident, Prisons Service officer Ronen Cohen was among four suspects indicted for aggravated assault for their role in the beating of an Eritrean asylum- seeker mistaken for a terrorist during an attack at the Beersheba Central Bus Station in October.
The asylum-seeker, Habtom Zerhom, was later ruled to have died as a result of being shot by a security guard during the attack, before he was set upon and beaten.