Ludmila Rahimov, who lives near the home of the 53-year-old woman who was allegedly murdered Thursday morning by her son in Sderot, called the police when she heard shouting. In a conversation with Walla! she said she hurried to the woman's house, but when she arrived there was no way to save her.
The suspect was arrested and brought in for questioning by police, where he linked himself to the act. Police are investigating whether he has a psychiatric history.
"She's my neighbor, lives right in front of me," Rahimov said. "I ran quickly from my house to her room, knocked on the door – [for] about ten minutes, because the screams this time were something I was not used to hearing. She shouted at him 'Enough, stop, it's hurting me, I can't' and I shouted to him to open the door and to not do anything to her.
"When he opened it I asked where the mother was, and he told me 'do you want to see her? I murdered her,' and he opened the door for me. He was full of blood and I saw her lying down. I called the police and he locked the door and continued to beat her."
Rahimov said that the son's violence against his mother was a recurring pattern. "I know he used to hit her. I told her to call the police and she told me he was depressed. In the past she gave me a house key: 'If you do not see me for a day or two, see what's happening with me,'" she told me, but he changed the lock. "Occasionally she would come to me so I could cover up her black eyes for her," she said.
Police were called to the home following a report of an assault, broke into it along with firefighters and arrested the suspect in the bedroom, after he allegedly beat and stabbed her in the kitchen.
"He was usually a calm and quiet child, we never saw aggression or a sign that he had a problem," she said about the boy. "He always helped the neighbors. He worked for a while, and when the coronavirus started, he stopped. He had to fly abroad for work and the trip was canceled because of the coronavirus – and she claimed that he got depressed because of it."
"The shocking testimony of the neighbor of the murdered woman from Sderot, who she said used to put make-up on her from time to time so that they would not see the beatings, is an expression of the danger of violence from family members under which many women live, whether it's the violent husband or the son suffering from depression, or was himself a witness to childhood violence and imitated the behavior he saw at home," said No2Violence director-general Vardit Danziger.
"This is evidence that sometimes the home, for those women living amid violence, is not a fortress [but] can be dangerous, violent and claim victims," Danziger said. "We as a society must do everything to ensure that these women are protected everywhere and at all times."
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.