The Haifa District Court on Monday extended the remand of two men suspected of raping and sodomizing three sisters aged 9, 10 and 11 over the past two years. Dep.-Cmdr. Kobi Bachar, head of the Zevulun police station responsible for arresting the men, identified the suspects as Mordechai Salomi, 47, and Hanan Shimon, 43, both residents of a small neighborhood in the Krayot area. He said the two men had not worked together and neither knew what the other was doing.

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The mother of the three girls said she only became aware recently of what was happening to her daughters after long conversations with them. Bachar said the girls were currently receiving counseling from city social workers. According to the charge, Salomi works in the neighborhood synagogue and would lure the girls to the building's basement with promises of sweets and presents. Shimon, a driver responsible for taking the girls to school, raped them in remote places, said Bachar. Judge Eran Kotton said that the men must remain in police custody for a further six days. Bachar said that in these cases, police and caseworkers would do all they could to make sure the men were not returned to live in the same neighborhood as the girls they had raped. Before the hearing, Salomi said that he was sorry for his deeds and asked for the family's forgiveness. His brother, who was also present, said that Salomi was a good and simple man and that it was hard for him to believe that his brother had committed these acts, reported web site Ynet. He said that it was all lies and stories. Shimon's lawyer also claimed his client was innocent.

Haifa men arrested for raping 3 sisters

Two men suspected of raping and sodomizing girls aged 9, 10 and 11.