At the end of about 10 years of legal proceedings: a former senior officer was convicted of raping his stepdaughter - voila! news

"Refreshing the guidelines and considering moves by the investigating authority are required, so that a similar case does not happen again."

Court hall in Haifa (photo: official website, Yoav Itiel)

The District Court in Haifa today (Sunday) convicted the 60-year-old businessman from the north, who previously served as a senior officer in the IDF, of rape and multiple indecent acts on his stepdaughter over a three-year period, since she was 11 years old.

The acts were committed by the businessman when he lived with The mother of the 11-year-old. Already nine years ago, the girl filed a complaint with the police, but only three years later, after two years of investigation, the case was transferred from the police to the prosecutor's office.

The trial went on for four years.

The head of the court Judge Avi Levy, Judge Eran Koton and Judge Eyal Baumgart criticized the continuation of the proceedings, only a part of which is attributed to the Corona epidemic, and the failures of the northern police station that investigated the affair.

"Investigations of the type in question should be done quickly and efficiently, out of respect for the investigation procedures and respect for the investigated. The investigations should have been documented, comprehensive, and include a visit to the relevant places, regardless of the limitations and resources that are not high in a case like the present case," the judges argued and added, "We have nothing but to For this unfortunate sequence of events, which resulted in the cloud of the proceedings hovering over the heads of the parties over the course of nine and a half (!) years. We believe that the defects we have pointed out require refreshing the guidelines and considering moves by the investigating authority, so that a similar case does not happen again."

They requested that the district attorney forward their comments "to the relevant investigative authorities."

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Only three years later, after two years of investigation, the case was transferred from the police to the prosecutor's office.

Police vehicles (photo: official website, Section 27 A of the Copyright Law)

All along the senior denied what was attributed to him, but the judges firmly ruled that the young woman, who was a teenager at the time, "gave clear true testimony, her words reflected her experience and what happened in the various events about which she told us, and there is no basis for the plot claim."

On the other hand, they found the 60-year-old's version, among other things, "extremely puzzling, and in our opinion, unreasonable and illogical" and that in his version regarding the relationship with the stepdaughter "essential contradictions were evident and it was devoid of internal logic."

They grappled with the question of motive, and noted, "Hidden are man's ways of thinking, and many are the possibilities that reality offers us. Our impression of the defendant was that we have before us a sophisticated man, whose conduct is meticulous and calculated, in his toolbox is an impressive ability to persuade, and an ability to maneuver that does not fail. The defendant is not an open book, But more of a secret script, without code and cipher."

They also added that "it is possible that he committed his actions out of sexual frustration, out of a desire to gain control,

Lawyer Moshe Gilad, who represented the man with lawyers Rinat Gilad and Ziv Gilad from his office, believes that the man was wronged.

He told Walla that they intend to appeal the sentence to the Supreme Court, "An elderly man who has served the people of Israel all his life in senior positions was investigated about ten years ago for sexual offenses against his wife. He is released and the Haifa district attorney's office closed the case against him. Five years ago, an attorney from the attorney's office The state decides to open the case again and today he is convicted," they said, adding that "in today's Israel this is the normal situation and not the exception. The percentage of convictions for sexual offenses skyrockets and not always with justice. I respect the verdict of the judges and disagree with their determinations, with all due respect , the final determination will be made by the Supreme Court on appeal. The conviction in itself for such a person is a death blow and the sentence will further add to it."

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