About 24 hours after a young Haredi woman filed a police complaint on suspicion of a serious assault in Ramat Gan, Dan Region detectives succeeded in arresting the suspect in the act - a 46-year-old Haredi resident of Bnei Brak.
This morning (Thursday) a court extended the suspect's detention by 6 days.
The suspect was not present at the hearing this morning because he had a fever of 38 degrees. He claims that he lives with his parents at home and both have tested positive for the coronavirus.
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According to a report in Israel Hayom, the incident that occurred on Tuesday was recorded on the young woman's phone.
The man's arrest was carried out after the complainant arrived at the Ramat Gan police station on Tuesday and said that while she was walking down a street in the Bnei Brak area of Ramat Gan at night, the suspect approached her and offered to drive her to her desired location.
The complainant, despite not having any prior acquaintance with the suspect, accepted the offer and while she was sitting in the suspect's vehicle, he began, she said, to reach out his hands towards her body and later attacked her and committed a serious act - all despite her resistance.
During his police interrogation, the suspect confirmed the encounter with the complainant, but denied the serious offenses attributed to him.
According to a report in Israel Hayom, during the hearing, the police representative said that this was a serious incident and asked the court to extend the suspect's detention by seven days.
""A few days ago, the police received a report that the suspect committed the offense against the complainant. That night, the Israel Police conducted several technical operations and we reached the suspect. The entire incident was audio recorded on the complainant's phone," said a police representative.
He later added that he is also suspected of obstructing a police officer, after yesterday when a police team arrived at the suspect's address to arrest him, he claimed that his parents had tested positive for coronavirus.
The defense attorney argued at the hearing that this is a person with no criminal record, is normal, married with 4 children, and is a working person, who denies all the suspicions against him.
The defense attorney added that the man is diabetic and receives medication every day. He asked the court to consider another alternative and not keep him in custody, since there is no danger or fear of escaping justice, and certainly no obstruction of investigative proceedings.
Judge Anat Yahav extended the suspect's detention by six days and noted that there is reasonable suspicion, even more than that, against the suspect for committing the alleged offenses.
""In light of the complainant's detailed complaint, a transcript of the recording and additional testimonies, it appears that the complainant did not consent to the acts that were committed against her in real time, as well as the nature of the acts. To this it should be added that on the face of it it appears, according to the suspicion, that the suspect took advantage of the complainant's physical condition.".
The investigation continues.
