State indicts 2 Haifa men for raping American stewardess in Tel Aviv hotel

The men, ages 24 and 26 from Haifa, met defendant at a dance club where they were drinking alcohol, when they offered her a ride.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
female flight attendant 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
female flight attendant 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday filed an indictment with the Tel Aviv District Court against two men for raping an American flight attendant in her hotel in Tel Aviv.
The two men, ages 24 and 26 from Haifa, but known only as A.A. and B.B. under a gag order, met the woman, whose identity is also under a gag order, at a dance club on August 13, said the indictment.
As part of an overnight stopover, the woman came to the club with a friend and danced and drank alcohol with the men, the indictment alleged. Around 2:00 a.m., the woman started to feel sick, was unsuccessful in trying to find her friend and had no money to take a taxi back to her hotel, the indictment said.
According to the indictment, the men offered her a ride and brought her back to her hotel room. When she told the men she felt bad and then asked them to leave, they entered the room with her anyway.
She later asked them to leave again, noted the indictment, but they did not, following which she went into the bathroom and changed from her club clothes to pajamas.
But when she left the bathroom the men raped and sexually assaulted her as well as physically forced her to perform sexual acts on them, said the indictment.
The indictment said that the woman tried to get the men to stop at one point by telling them she had communicable diseases, and the men temporarily paused taking the time to try to understand her English and check words she had used using an online dictionary via their telephone.
Two other men, called H.H. and V.V., were invited to join A.A. and B.B., but when they arrived, the woman successfully called the hotel lobby for help and all four of the men fled, according to the indictment.
The prosecution requested that the men be remanded to police custody until the end of the proceedings.
The two men will be arraigned on September 16 and a hearing on whether they will be kept in police custody is set for September 29.