Woman stabbed to death in Jerusalem apartment
Police suspect victim's tenant killed her over lease dispute; signs of struggle found in apartment. Internal security minister says surge in violence 'should not be blown out of proportion'
Tziporah Nehamo, 59, was stabbed to death Tuesday afternoon in an apartment in Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv neighborhood. Police suspect she was murdered by her tenant.
At around 5:30 pm police were notified of a stabbing on Feinstein Street. Officers who were dispatched to the scene forcibly entered the locked apartment, where they found the woman lying in a pool of her own blood. The suspect, a man in his 40s, was found in one of the rooms, holding a knife. He is known to police from previous neighbor disputes.
Yoseph, who considered renting the apartment, said he witnessed the attack: "We entered the apartment and saw that the tenant was a little insane. The owner (woman) gave us a tour of the flat. The screaming began when I entered the bathroom. I returned to the living room, and saw that her back was bloodied. He pulled her hair and beat her. He told us to leave."
Maged David Adom paramedic Yoni Harel told Ynet that the woman sustained multiple stab wounds. "She lost consciousness immediately. We tried to resuscitate her, but to no avail," he said, adding that there were signs of a struggle in the apartment. "There was a lot of scattered blood, on the walls as well," said Harel.
Noa Margalit, who lives on Feinstein Street, told Ynet that the victim was stabbed while showing the apartment to a number of other people.
"The people who came with her ran away," she said, adding that cries of "help, help," could be heard from inside the apartment.
Margalit said the murder could have been prevented, and that "the writing was on the wall."
"He (the suspect) has lived here for almost a year, during which he has been in and out of jail, hurt others and terrorized the neighbors. He threatened me, my mother and my boyfriend. People here lived in fear," she said.
"This is a fiasco. People here were afraid to let their children out of the house. He would throw bottles into the yards, kicked a dog and threatened to kill neighbors, but when we turned to the police and filed complaints we were told that an injunction is required from the district psychiatrist, but it was never issued."
Police officers talk to neighbor (Photo: Dudi Vaaknin)
Margalit described the victim as an "amazing woman." She said the woman was aware of the threats her tenant made and promised to have him evicted.
Another neighbor, Maor Cohen, told Ynet that numerous complaints were filed against the suspect.
"Just yesterday he assaulted a neighbor. But nothing came out of these complaints. The police would come, take look and that's it – the threats continued," he said.
The murder occurred just hours after a masked gunman shot a 22-year-old resident of the Arab-Israeli town Tira. Muhab Haqiya, who is known to police, was rushed to Kfar Saba's Meir Hospital, where he died of his wounds. The apparent murder was the 13th in Israel this month.
Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch (Yisrael Beiteinu) said the recent surge in violence "should not be blown out of proportion. Not every murder can be prevented."
