Tel Aviv District Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment Thursday with the city's District Court against Rafael Shraga, 51, from Bat Yam, charging him with aggravated rape and sex offenses against a 19-year-old woman with an intellectual disability at an apartment hotel in Bat Yam two weeks ago.
According to the indictment, filed by attorney Noa Rashti, the woman entered an Aroma cafe in Bat Yam, where Shraga was sitting with a friend. He noticed her, called her over to sit with them and introduced himself as Shlomo, a 28-year-old masseur. During their conversation, he offered to "pamper her with a massage." Although she refused, he continued suggesting that she come with him to his apartment in Tiberias.
Shraga during his arrest two weeks ago
(Photo: Police Spokespersom)
After she told him that she did not travel far from central Israel, he allegedly exploited her intellectual disability and told her he would rent a room for them at a hotel in the center. The woman said she was not interested and preferred that they go for a walk in Bat Yam. They later left the cafe together and went to a nearby park.
Shraga then booked a room at a hotel in Bat Yam and the two traveled there in his car. Because of her intellectual disability, the woman innocently believed that he would give her a massage at the hotel. She told him that she did not know him and did not want to take off her clothes.
According to the prosecution, during the drive Shraga raped the woman and committed indecent acts against her. After they arrived at the hotel, he allegedly raped her several more times, causing her physical injuries while slapping and hurting her.
While they were in the room, the woman's family members called her several times, and Shraga instructed her not to answer. When she eventually answered, her family members sensed that she was in distress and called police. Shraga then fled the hotel.
The indictment charges Shraga with aggravated rape without consent while exploiting an intellectual disability, rape without consent while exploiting an intellectual disability, indecent acts under circumstances of rape without consent while exploiting an intellectual disability and causing an indecent act under circumstances of rape without consent while exploiting an intellectual disability.
Attorney Gil Friedman, who represents the defendant through the Public Defender's Office, said: "My client denies the offenses attributed to him and maintains that everything was fully consensual."