The Tel Aviv District Court sentenced four residents of east Jerusalem to two to eight years in prison Thursday, after they were convicted of the assault and robbery of several young homosexuals in Tel Aviv's old central bus station.
According to the indictment, in January 2007, the four scoured the station's area for men seeking to rendezvous with other men, going as far as to place one of them as a decoy.
Around 4:30 am, one of the plaintiffs fell for the scam, picked up the man posing as a decoy in his car, and the two made their way to a nearby car park.
Once inside the car park, the indictment continued, the three other assailants found the two. The plaintiff – sensing danger - tries to escape – but the four began beating him, ordered him to strip naked and robbed him, taking off with his clothes, his money and his car, which contained his cell phone and laptop.
In a similar indictment, two east Jerusalem residents were accused of arriving at the Jerusalem Grand Station Central, with the same intent, seducing a man into a car and beating him to the point of biting off part of his ear.
The plaintiff reportedly asked his assailants to at least allow him to get to a hospital and have the severed part reattached, but they refused, and in fact began stoning him.
The plaintiff in the Jerusalem case testified to the anguished he suffered being left physically scared, especially since he lives in a traditional community, known for its intolerance to gay relation. The man now faces several reconstructive surgeries.
"The defendants' acts were violent and cruel, and were obviously carried out in a manner meant not only to prevent any resistance by their victims, but to humiliate them…
"This is one of the most vicious cases ever brought before this court," wrote Judge Khaled Kabub, who presided over the hearing, in his ruling.
"The defendants acted with premeditated malice, laying in wait for their victim, leading him to a secluded place and exercising brutal, unwarranted, violence."
Three more defendants in these cases are awaiting trial.
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