The abuse of the ultra-Orthodox girl I "Everyone involved in the investigation should go home""

June 18, 2019   

The difficulties in the case of the abuse of the 7-year-old girl: MK Shlomo Karai of the Likud is sharply attacking this evening (Tuesday) the conduct of the investigative authorities in the kidnapping and brutal assault of the Haredi girl. This is against the backdrop of the serious question marks that were first published on the Haredim 10 website. "Everyone who interfered in the investigation and the indictment for the rape of the girl should go home," MK Karai wrote in a post he published this evening on his Facebook page. "This is negligence and foolishness that could prevent the most severe punishment from the monstrous criminal." According to him, "For 50 days, the law enforcement agencies have been dealing with the sickening rape of a seven-year-old girl until a very serious indictment was filed. Only in the last two days have question marks and doubts arisen from the very foundation and only because of/thanks to public pressure." Earlier this evening, it was reported on Haredim 10 that the head of the police investigations department, Superintendent Gadi Siso, and the Chief Military Attorney, Major General Sharon Afek, held an urgent conversation, during which it was decided to conduct additional investigation into the case - in which an indictment was filed the day before yesterday. The consultation was attended by, in view of the sensitivity of the matter, State Attorney Shai Nitzan and other senior officials from the State Attorney's Office. During the consultation, it was decided to assign the central unit in the Shi'ite district to conduct additional investigations into the case, in order to fully investigate the suspicion that others were involved in the abuse, "and in light of new information received after the case was published." This is an unusual step, and this is after the conclusion of the police investigation on Tuesday, the Military Prosecutor's Office submitted the indictment against the Arab suspect in the case to the Ofer Military Court. A senior legal source told Channel 12 this evening that under the circumstances, he doubts whether the Prosecutor's Office would have filed an indictment. A senior official in the Military Prosecutor's Office added: "It was impossible to avoid filing the indictment, despite several troubling problems that arise from the investigation and to which there is no answer." Channel 12 also reported that the "new information" raised the apparent possibility that the defendant, Mahmoud Katusa, is connected to or involved in another, additional case, apart from the case in which the indictment was filed.