Indictment: Man kills wife with knives, meat mallet
Prosecutor claims Yitzhak Ben-Shitrit stabbed and beat his wife Mazal, 79, to death with a meat mallet, continuing to do so long after she was dead. ‘Someone killed us’ he tells emergency hotline
According to the indictment, in the past few months, Ben-Shitrit began to blame his wife, to whom he had been married since 1995, in not seeing to his needs, disrespecting his honor, and hiding money from him.
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He was accused of attacking Mazal Ben-Shitrit during the course of an argument sometime on the 8-9 of March, in the early hours of the morning in her apartment, in the capital city. According to the investigation, Ben-Shitrit stabbed her with three kitchen knives, at least 28 times in her head and multiple times in other parts of her body. He also attacked her with a meat mallet, and inflicted extensive damage post-mortem, for reasons which remain unclear.
Investigators outside crime scene (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
The husband, 79, informed the police hotline of the event, soon after it happened. “I killed her, there is blood in the apartment,” he said.
The police are investigating a report that someone pushed on a panic button in the apartment, which connects to a security agency, but no one replied or checked it out.
According to the indictment, after murdering his wife, Ben-Shitrit called the police hotline, and said to the operator, “murder, murder,” and “someone has killed us.” In response to operator asking who the murder was, Ben-Shitrit claimed he did not know.
He said that his wife was not responding and he requested medical assistance, but didn’t provide his full identity before hanging up. He told the operator, “they killed us,” and claimed that “someone slaughtered us.” He added that he could not stand and the apartment was full of blood.
Ben-Shitrit's remand was extended by the court - he stands accused of pre-meditated murder. He was lightly injured during the event and was brought into the court room in a wheelchair. His children and Mazal's son from her first marriage were present at the hearing.
Mazal Ben Shitrit's son said that he did not know what had happened in the apartment, and asked to review the indictment before commenting. He added that he is not angry with the Ben-Shitrit children.
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