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Suspect in court
Photo: Dudu Azoulay

Police: Assault victim identified army chief's bodyguard

Woman who was sexually assaulted at Tel Aviv Port Friday night identifies main suspect at police station confrontation

A 22-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted at the Tel Aviv Port Friday night failed to identify photos of the main suspect in the case – a captain in the IDF's VIP protection unit who also served as Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen-Gabi Ashkenazi's bodyguard.

 

However, investigators said she later identified him during a confrontation held at a local police station.

 

Earlier, the woman reportedly pointed to a photo of a different man. The suspect's attorney, Keren Nahari confirmed the details as she left the police station.

 

During the confrontation the woman said to the officer, "Why did you do that to me?" But the suspect denied the allegations and told the woman "you're lying. It was not me who did this to you."

 

The woman told investigators she was walking to her car in the Tel Aviv Port parking lot when she was attacked by a man who dragged her to the bushes on the Yarkon river bank, hit her and removed her clothes. The woman resisted and hit the man while calling out for help. Eventually, the woman said, the suspect gave up and fled the scene.

 

According to investigators, the woman could not identify the suspect's photo because he had attacked her from behind and because it was dark.

 

In an interview with Channel 10 on Monday, the woman said, "I kept shouting and tried to call for help. He held me down and said, 'Do you want to die?' He said if I didn’t want to die I should shut up. Then he turned me over with my face to the ground and began undressing me. He began taking my pants off from behind and began undressing himself as well – he tried and then I screamed."

 

The officer's interrogation continued Monday morning. He is suspected of attempted rape and aggravated assault. He allegedly committed the act while he was intoxicated after leaving his bachelor's party at a Tel Aviv Port nightclub.

 

The suspect's attorney said he was sticking by his initial version of the events, according to which he had left the party to urinate outside and fell in the Yarkon River.

 

On Tuesday police are expected to ask the court to extend the suspect's remand while they await DNA results.

 

Meanwhile, police are looking into the possibility that the man was involved in additional, unsolved rape cases, including the rape of a woman in Tel Aviv's Bavli neighborhood a year ago.

 


פרסום ראשון: 11.30.09, 19:17
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