Palestinian man murdered child
Anwar Ahdush carefully planned murder, lured eight year-old Lipaz Himi to stairwell where he raped, murdered her. Victim's mother: My girl was raped and murdered on Independence Day only because she is Jewish
Police officials said that the 35-year-old Palestinian, Anwar Ahdush, carefully planned the murder, adding that the murder was a criminally, rather than nationalistically, motivated crime. The suspect confessed and reenacted the murder.
Lipaz Himi's family is furious with the police's view of the murder, rejecting the claim that it was criminally motivated. Family members say that police told them they had yet to decide whether the crime was motivated by crime or nationalist reasons, and that they only heard on the news that it was decided that the crime was criminally motivated.
"My girl was raped and murdered on Independence Day only because she is Jewish. This murderer came to Biet Shemesh to murder Jews. In the village where he came from he would not have done this. In the village he did not look for girls," said Lipaz's mother, Limor.
Ahdush, 35, lured Himi with 10 shekels, before attacking her. Her body was found a few weeks ago near the city market with strangulation marks.
Five Palestinians who illegally entered the country were arrested near the scene of the crime. One of the five was the man who murdered the child, the police investigation found.
The same man is also suspected of murdering David Ben-Hemo two days before murdering the child. The suspect is a resident of the village of Tzurif, confessed, and reenacted the crime. He is father of eight children.
Three other suspects were released at the end of the investigation after it became clear they were not connected to the murder of the child.
Planned to murder
Ahdush told police in his confession that he had known Lipaz Himi beforehand, as she used to wander around the market, where he worked available jobs, and planned to murder her.
According to suspicions, a day before the murder, Anwar lured the child to a stairwell where he carried out indecent acts on the girl.
According to police, on the day of the murder in the early evening hours, the suspect noticed Lipaz wandering around the market with a scooter, lured her to the stairs where he and his friends stayed, raped her, and choked her with her belt, a shoelace, and a string. After murdering her, the suspect covered the child in a blanket, climbed to the roof of the building, washed his face, and changed his clothes.
Immediately after the murder, Ahdush met with one of his friends (one of the other four to be arrested), and asked him to leave, "because there is police in the area." The friend refused, walked up the stairwell, and when he noticed the body, he left the area, and continued to work in the market.
At 10 p.m. the five men met to eat dinner in the market. Another friend of the suspect went up the stairs to bring a beverage, and when he saw the body he returned to the group and told them of his discovery. After a consultation, the five decided to tell a Jewish resident of the area to call the police, so that they would not be suspected of the murder. Police called to the area identified the murdered girl as Lipaz Himi from Beit Shemesh.
Lipaz Himi was buried on May 4. During her funeral, her father broke down, and cried out "my daughter has been taken for me."
