Legal absurdity: The police prosecution unit recently filed an indictment against a woman whose ex-boyfriend violated a protection order she issued against him, threatened her and harassed her. When she threatened to go to the authorities, she went from being a victim of violence to being a defendant. Following Israel Hayom's request, the police will reexamine the case.
R., a resident of the center, was shocked last week to discover that an indictment had been filed against her in the Kfar Saba Magistrate's Court. The reason: threats against her ex-boyfriend. These are warnings by R. that she will go to the police and the court, after the ex-spouse violated the protection order issued against him, and not for the first time, and did not stop harassing and threatening her.
A puzzling decision on an indictment (illustration), photo: Joshua Yosef
This is a man who in the past year was even accused of making death threats against her, who was sent by the court to participate in an anger management workshop and who was interrogated on suspicion of additional threats against her. All R. wanted to do to stop the harassment was to warn him that she was going to go to the authorities.
Put a knife to your face
Their relationship, according to R., ended about a year and a half ago, following an incident of violence in which he threatened her by putting a knife to her face. They were married for several years, during which time he would threaten, curse and lash out at her without warning.
"I would say something wrong, and it would change from zero to a hundred," she says. In one case, neighbors called the police, and she opened the door with an injury to her face. The policeman suggested she complain, but she refused. "I was ashamed," she says.
In another case, R. was called to kindergarten alongside the police, following testimonies that he had acted aggressively towards their young son. Eventually, she summoned up the courage to end the relationship, but the man found it hard to accept and kept sending her messages and threats that he would hurt her.
The relationship ran aground (illustration), photo: GettyImages
R. went to the police, and the court issued her a protection order forbidding him to approach her and send her harassing messages. Despite this, the harassment did not stop, and in a series of text messages he sent her, he cursed her and wished her to end her life. In their last exchange, he wrote: "If you want to make sure your child grows up as an orphan, keep up your evil deeds, do whatever you want."
R. replied, writing, among other things: "This is harassment, and you are violating the order. I go to court, and we'll see who laughs last. I swore I would do anything to ruin your life. You don't let me go... You'll be in jail at the end... One more message and I'm sending you police officers to stop it... I will not live under your terror..."
It was decided to reexamine the case. Court Guard (Archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The spouse complained
As a result, the ex-spouse complained to the police, and R. was interrogated on suspicion of threats and indicted. This is despite the evidence in the case of the dozens of text messages she received from him over the past year, despite his clear violation of the order, which was mentioned in black and white in the indictment filed against her.
Following Israel Hayom's request, the Israel Police said: "An indictment was filed against the defendant (former spouse, A.P.) that includes both the offense of threats and the offense of violating a legal order. Regarding the indictment filed against the defendant, upon further examination of the evidentiary material in her case, it was decided to reexamine the case."
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