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Police arrest Arab man who sexually abused schoolgirl
Man aged 20 jumped fence of a school in south Tel Aviv and dragged a girl to a corner where he carried out the attack; police linked his DNA to a similar attempted attack on a woman in Oranit.
Police arrested, a 20-year-old resident of Kafr Qasim Monday night on suspicion of phedophilia, sexually assaulting a girl and other sexual offences, following a prolonged manhunt that began in March last year.
According to the suspicion, Mohammed Taha climbed over a fence of an elementary school in south Tel Aviv that month, grabbed an 11-year-old girl and dragged her to a hidden corner where he sexually abused her.
After the girl told her friend what had been done to her, the school informed the police who then launched an investigation.
Only in the last few days however, were significant developments made in the case which led to the arrest of the suspect who had managed to evade authorities’ grasp for just short of a year.
Illustration (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Information compiled in the investigation shows that last September, Taha also attacked a woman in the town of Oranit in a similar fashion.
However, the woman was able to resist the assault and managed to escape from the grip of the assailant.
TAha’s arrest was largely facilitated by the help of DNA evidence that was collected after Taha’s attack on his would-be victim in Oranit.
The samples matched those taken after the school attack indicated that Taha, one again, was responsible for assault.
He was located according to ש truck license plates after he fled the scene of the attack near Oranit.
The police suspect that Taha may have carried out indecent assault, intercourse with a minor and assault.
Police investigators also believe that the suspect carried out more similar assaults, and are currently looking into the possibility.
Liat Frieberg, Taha’s lawyer, who brought Taha’s father to where he was being detained along with the mayor of Kafr Qasim, requested that he be released to house arrest, reasoning that this was “a young man of 20 with no criminal background.”
The judge at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court however, did not grant the request, choosing instead to extend his arrest until January 25.
“After hearing the claims of the parties and after studying the investigative material, I believe there is reasonable suspicion based on foundational evidence against the suspect with respect to the offences of which he is suspected.”
