'Children abused with cigarette burns'

Ramle man arrested for allegedly violently beating his 8 kids with help from his girlfriend.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Horrific accounts of a father of eight putting out cigarettes on his children during fits of rage emerged in a child abuse case disclosed on Monday. The 36-year-old man and his 45-year-old partner were arrested by Ramle police and charged with abusing all of his children - the youngest of whom is five years old. Their custody was extended by three days on Monday. Officers made the arrest after a complaint was received by the Ramle social welfare bureau. Police say the father hit his children with a pipe and routinely put out cigarettes on them as a form of punishment, in what officers say was systematic child abuse. Other charges include bathing the children in scathing hot water. "This is one of the most severe cases of child abuse we've seen," Ramle Station Commander Livio Lopen said. He added that some of the abuse was meted out as punishment, while other acts of violence took place without warning. This is the latest in a recent series of highly publicized child-abuse cases. Police suspect the man's partner of assisting him in abusing the children, though she denies the charges. Eyal Shmuelvitch, a lawyer speaking on the woman's behalf, said charges against her were fabricated by the father in an attempt to deflect responsibility for the abuse. The lawyer representing the father, Eyal Simhoni, also said his client was innocent, attributing the case to a "family quarrel" between the man and his ex-wife, the mother of the children. He added that she was intent on removing the children from the home.