Tel Aviv District Court Judge Benny Sagi sentenced Shaker Abu Allah to nine years in prison and Evyatar Ben Avi to 52 months in prison after using the Grindr app, they arranged a sexual encounter with 23 men, supplied them with drugs that rendered them unconscious and then robbed them.
Right: Evyatar bin Avi, Shaker Allah Abu Shahim, photo: Israel Police Spokesperson's Office
Abu Allah and Ben Abi were convicted on the basis of their admission of the facts of the indictment, which was amended as part of a plea bargain. As described in the amended indictment, the defendants conspired to locate the complainants through the Grindr and Telegram apps. Abu Allah and Ben Abi arranged a sexual encounter with the 23 complainants, during which the defendants supplied the complainants with a drug – about half of the complainants were given the drug without consent, while the rest took the drug consensually. As a result of the loss of consciousness as a result of the drug, no complainant agreed.
Suspicion: drugged, handcuffed and robbed men they met on the Grindr app || Police Spokesperson's Office
After the complainants lost consciousness, the defendants took their phones or SIM cards, recovered their credit password, stole the credit cards and thus stole money. In addition, some of the complainants had cash and property stolen. In four of the charges, when the complainants arrived at the meeting without their wallets, the accused broke into their vehicles in order to steal credit cards and property. Using this method, the defendants managed to steal almost NIS 190,000, in addition to the property stolen in some cases.
Tel Aviv District Court, Photo: Gideon Markowitz
For the events that are the subject of the indictment, the defendants were convicted of offenses of deprivation of capacity to resist, use of a credit card under aggravated circumstances, use of dangerous poison, supply of a dangerous drug, burglary of a vehicle and theft from a vehicle. In addition, Abu Allah was convicted of illegal entry or residence in Israel, threats and possession of drugs not for personal consumption, and Ben Avi was convicted of invasion of privacy. 23 charges were attributed to Abu Allah, eight of them together with Ben Avi. Another single charge was attributed to my father's son alone. As stated, Judge Benny Sagi sentenced the defendants this morning. Abu Allah was sentenced to nine years in prison, 14 months suspended imprisonment, and compensation of NIS 100,000 to the complainants. Ben Avi was sentenced to 52 months in prison, 14 months suspended imprisonment, and compensation of NIS 30,000 to the complainants.
Men's dating app (illustration), photo: GettyImages
After the verdict, attorneys Meredith Sheiban Perkel and Ruth Barclay Dahl, who handled the case on behalf of the State Prosecutor's Office, said: "This is a case of precedent-setting scope in which the defendants were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, after they carried out a meticulous criminal plan, as described in the indictment. The defendants acted methodically and calmly, in some cases holding more than one meeting a day, in which they drugged and robbed a complainant. As stated, this is a severe punishment and is still lenient in light of the state's position. We will study the verdict and formulate our position accordingly."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us
