Cpl. Zidane
Photo: Amit Sha'al
Soldier who says she was raped recalls harrowing moments
In testimony provided by a female soldier who claims she was raped by a soldier from her platoon following a night out in Tel Aviv, she describes how she woke up to find her attacker on top of her; 'I felt like I couldn’t move. I had frozen.'
The female IDF soldier who was allegedly raped by a soldier serving with her in her unit has provided testimony in which she claims that she woke up on her bed after the incident unaware of what had taken place.
According to the complainant, the soldier, who has been identified as Cpl. Sa’id Zidane, took advantage of her gesture to allow him to sleep over at her home after a night out with their platoon when he told her that northbound trains had ceased to operate.
“I went into my room, closed the door and turn the light off. I woke up when he was lying on top of me. I didn’t know what had happened. I felt exhausted and heavy,” she recalled. “I told him that I didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t think to call for help from my parents who were in the room next door.”
Zidane was indicted in a military court in Jaffa last Wednesday following the allegations made by the complainant last month.
A gag order has been placed on the job of the complainant and on the brigade to which they belong. According to the girl’s testimony, Zidane had already began making moves on her hours before the rape.
The Criminal Investigation Division (CID) carried out a polygraph just over a week ago on the defendant and the complainant, the results of which formed a strong case for indicting Zidane. Nevertheless, the defendant has consistently claimed that the relationship between the two was consensual.
The female soldier told investigators that the two of them had gone out to a club with other soldiers from their platoon in Tel Aviv when at a certain point she started feeling sick, became dizzy and sat down in a corner in the club when Zidane sat next to her.
“I told him I don’t feel well. I don’t remember but there was a kiss,” she recalled. “I didn’t feel good but I didn’t want to hurt him. I stopped it and said I need to go to the bathroom. I told him that everything he has heard about me and about another soldier is not true and that he should know I am not that type of person.
Photo: Amit Sha'al
“After the party, when the rest our friends had left the club, Sa’id and I stayed. Then I told him that I have an empty room in my house since there were no trains going north. I told him he could come to my place. We got in a taxi and I slept during the whole journey. When I woke up, my head was on him, which isn’t anything abnormal,” she said.
When the two arrived at her home, she claimed, she suggested that they eat and drink. “I showed him the room (her brother’s room) and I went to tell my mom that my friend from the platoon was sleeping the night and that she shouldn’t worry. He went into my room, tried to kiss me and tried to touch me. I told him I didn’t want to but he continued and I started getting angry and told him to get out. I went with him to the door and he left.”
At this point, the girl said in her testimony, Zidane sent her text messages apologizing for his behaviour. “I agreed that he could come back to mine and sleep here only if he didn’t touch me and if he slept in the other room.”
After she had woken up to find him on top of her, she said that she had struggled and resisted him kissing her by moving her head from side to side.
“I didn’t understand what was happening. I told him that I didn’t want to do this and then he started kissing me in other places,” she continued.
According to the complainant, Zidane took her clothes off and then proceeded to rape her. “I felt like I couldn’t move. I had frozen. I was in shock … Our relationship before the incident was purely that of friends.”
Afterwards, she added, he told her that he loves her. But according to Zidane’s version of events, the two sexual relations were consensual after the night during which he said she had given numerous hints and even held his hand on the way to the club.
“She danced up close to me, pulled me to the bathroom of the club and said that tonight you are sleeping at mine.,” he said.
“After we kissed at her house I left and she followed me telling me to come back. The day after we spoke on WhatsApp but we argued and I asked her to block me.”
