Netivot woman accused of raping sons

Netivot woman admits to charges, says she did it to "get back" at husband during divorce proceedings.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Rapist mother 224.88 (photo credit: Channel 10)
Rapist mother 224.88
(photo credit: Channel 10)
A 38-year-old mother of eight was arrested on Tuesday in Netivot on suspicion of having sex with two of her sons, aged 8 and 11. The mother confessed to raping her sons, citing "revenge" against her former husband as the motive when interrogated by police, Acting Netivot Station Commander, Superintendent Ron Yehuda, said. During the time of the alleged abuse eight months ago, the couple was in the middle of divorce proceedings. "We brought her into the station today, where she confessed to one act of sexual abuse," Yehuda added. "We hope to gather more evidence, and to pass the case onto the prosecution by the start of next week." All eight of the mother's children had already been removed from the woman's home and sent to foster homes and boarding schools a year ago, due to neglect and previous (non-sexual) incidents of abuse by the mother, police said. When her children came home to visit, the mother led them into a room in the house at night and carried out full sexual acts with them. "I've never seen anything like this," Yehuda said, reflecting on the severity of the case. Suspicions were raised only after the children returned to boarding school, where one of the boys reenacted sexual scenes on another child, leading welfare services to suspect that the child had been sexually abused. Welfare services passed on the information to the police, which launched an investigation resulting in Tuesday's arrest. News of the case came just five days after the Ministry of Welfare and Social Services released a report that shed light on the extent of sexual abuse cases in the country. Some 421 children under the age of 14 were questioned by welfare officials over incestuous relations in 2007, according to the report. "The difficult consequences of incestuous relations turn the child into a victim which faces existential dangers and emotional terrorism," Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog said last week, commenting on the report. Tuesday's arrest comes as a mother of 12 children and a suspected religious cult leader was indicted in a Jerusalem District court for severely abusing her children.