Trapped in private custody: A woman who sought a divorce from her husband, following violence on his part, was left in limbo after the father of the family disappeared for two years, during which time the woman filed for divorce in the rabbinical court.
The court, realizing that the husband had fled and could not be contacted, referred the case to the director of the Agunot Division of the Rabbinical Courts, Rabbi Eliyahu Maimon, who conducted an investigation and discovered that the husband was in Petah Tikva. Photographs posted on Facebook show the fugitive being photographed in a bar selling alcoholic beverages. Rabbi Maimon transferred the case to a private investigator, Victor Senans of Nir Investigations, in order to continue the investigation that would lead to the arrest of the fleeing husband and the end of the affair – during which he would grant his wife a divorce.
In field investigations conducted by Senans, it became clear that the husband frequents a pub every day where members of the Ethiopian community in the city hang out. All attempts to locate him were in vain. The ministry's investigators entered the pub several times as visitors for two hours or more, but were unable to meet the husband.
During the observations at the site, a person was located who the investigators felt was someone they could trust. They approached him with a request to help find the husband, and the man provided the following details: The husband lives in abandoned houses or in an orchard near Petah Tikva, he does not own a phone, works odd jobs for cash, consumes alcohol in large quantities, is neglected, goes without shoes and does not eat for days.
At the request of the private investigator, the man met with the husband, and despite numerous attempts to mediate between the parties to meet, the husband refused to grant the divorce. The investigators, under the auspices of the Agunot Division, made numerous attempts to meet with the husband - but without success, and since they realized that the negotiation process had failed, they returned to conducting operational activities to locate him.
During the investigation, it turned out that at 5:00 AM, the private investigator received information that the husband was calling his wife from a cell phone with an identified number. The anchored husband, who had fallen asleep in the meantime, missed the investigator's call and instead the man answered that the device had been stolen from him, using the headset left in his car.
In a conversation with the office investigator, it turned out that the guy from whom the device was stolen was at a pub in Petah Tikva that night, where his Samsung phone was stolen. He testified that he knew who the thief was. The office investigator scheduled a meeting with him at the police station and, at his direction, together with Petah Tikva police officers, went to the area.
The husband was located, arrested and brought to court. After 15 days in custody, he granted his wife a divorce.
Director of the Agunot Division of the Rabbinical Courts, Rabbi Eliyahu Maimon: "The Agunot Division is making and will make every effort to locate the owners of the agunot and bring an end to the ongoing suffering of all parties."
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