Amar's son pleads guilty to kidnapping sister's boyfriend
Chief rabbi's wife admits she failed to report the crime.
By DAN IZENBERG
Meir Amar, the son of Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar, pleaded guilty in Tel Aviv District Court to abducting his teenage sister's 17-year-old boyfriend in accordance with a plea bargain agreement reached with the state.
Amar also admitted to charges of assault causing serious injury in aggravated circumstances, extortion using threats, abuse of a minor and false imprisonment. As part of the deal, he agreed to pay NIS 35,000 to the youth he kidnapped, beat and threatened in order to keep him away from his sister.
Amar's mother, Mazal, also pleaded guilty to knowing about the abduction and failing to report it to the police. In return, the state dropped more serious charges contained in the original indictment against her, including false imprisonment and extortion by threats. The state also agreed not to ask for a jail sentence.
The state informed the court that it had agreed to drop two of the charges against Amar in the original indictment and that it would ask that he be sentenced to three years in prison. The defense will be allowed to ask for any punishment it sees fit.
The judge, Zecharya Caspi, is due to announce whether he accepts the terms of the agreement on December 27.
According to the indictment, Meir Amar kidnapped his sister, Ayala, from her Jerusalem home at 10 p.m. on April 26, forced her to come with him to B'nei Brak where her boyfriend lived, and threatened to flush the boy out of his home "by shooting" if she did not persuade him to come out.
When the boy got into the car, Amar took out a knife and threatened to stab him if he called for help.
Amar drove his sister and her boyfriend to the home of two friends in the Israeli Arab village of Kalansua. He ordered Ayala to remain in the car while he took the youth into the house. There, he and his friends beat, kicked, slapped, strapped and punched the boy, threatened him with two vicious dogs and warned they would kill him.
They used a pair of scissors to cut his kippa, hair and side curls and stole his credit card.
Back in the car, Amar grabbed his sister by the throat, broke her glasses and broke and stole some of her jewelry. He also continued to beat the youth.
He then drove Ayala and the boy to his parents' home, where he ordered Ayala to go to her room and went to speak to his mother and father. Meanwhile, the boyfriends and his guards remained in the living room.
In the morning, Amar released the boy, told him to go home and not return to Jerusalem before 2007 and not to go out with girls for two years. The boy complained to the police about the beatings, leading to the arrest of Amar, his two friends and his mother.