The district court in Beer Sheva today (Thursday) convicted Dekel Shashankar of a series of serious sexual offenses including rape, indecent acts against six complainants, as well as the offense of spreading disease that he committed against a minor complainant, who was 13 years old at the time of the offense. Regarding three other charges, Shonkar was convicted of attempting to commit the offense of spreading disease.
The accused is a carrier of the HIV virus. However, no evidence was found that any of the complainants contracted the disease. In addition to the sexual offenses committed, the defendant was also convicted of the offense of an act that could spread disease towards a minor. The indictment did not attribute a sexual offense to the accused. The court acquitted him of committing the offense of spreading a life-threatening disease, and this because of the doubt as to whether the intercourse was protected. The accused worked systematically to locate disadvantaged women while presenting himself in different identities such as a lawyer, a Krav Maga instructor, an emotional therapist or someone who could help them financially.
The verdict states that "despite the defendant's desire to teach himself as a simple person, who suffers from many illnesses, who works for a living and seeks to help others as much as he can, in practice this is a sophisticated, blunt, manipulative defendant who did not apply in any way for the realization of his sexual desires."
"The accused worked, not to mention 'slaved', for a period of time in locating vulnerable complainants through postings on social networks, mainly through Facebook, and when they were found, he manipulated them using false representations, cynically exploiting their plight and all while ignoring their will," the decision reads.
Because of the doubt, that Shnoker was not convicted of three other charges in the lawsuit, because it turned out in retrospect that he was not contagious during the relevant period. The lawyer on behalf of the prosecution argued that the fact that it was discovered in retrospect that the accused was not contagious during the time of the offenses, does not mean that he should be exempt from punishment for it. "The work that was limited afterwards because the accused was not contagious during the period mentioned above - is in many ways an examination of the wisdom of hindsight, that he did not know about it and could not have known about it in real time," she said.
"The accused is a carrier of a life-threatening disease, which in the absence of treatment may be fatal to him and others. In accordance with the clear procedure of the Ministry of Health in the matter, in order for him to be able to exempt himself from informing his sexual partner about his illness, not least - to have unprotected sex, he must stand in line of cumulative conditions," added the attorney. "While the husband of the complainants, in fact, did not meet any of the conditions and was aware of it - which does not absolve him of responsibility."
About eight years ago, Shonkar was convicted of having sex with three Women while he hides from them that he is sick with a venereal disease. Shashankar was convicted of three crimes that could spread a disease, for which he could be imprisoned for up to seven years, but he was not convicted of the crimes of fraudulently receiving anything, which were included in the indictment.