Strangled a caregiver because he "received a mission to kill": Indictment against a Herzliya resident
The State Attorney's Office filed an indictment for aggravated assault against the attacker in Even Yehuda. During his interrogation, he claimed that parties threatened his family's lives and demanded he murder an elderly person, after having previously ordered him to decapitate a teddy bear and kill a rabbit. The state requests to keep him in custody until the end of proceedings and refer him for a psychiatric evaluation.
An indictment was filed today at the Central District Court in Lod against a 39-year-old resident of Herzliya for aggravated assault. According to the prosecution, the defendant decided to cause severe bodily harm to an elderly person, armed himself with a knife, and went out to look for a victim in Even Yehuda. Eventually, it is alleged, he arrived at the home of an elderly woman requiring nursing care, where he attacked the Filipino caregiver who opened the door for him, strangled her until she lost consciousness, attempted to stab her, and kicked her in the head and face. After believing she was dead, he left the scene.
According to the indictment, the 50-year-old caregiver, who has been in Israel since 2018, cares for an elderly woman and lives with her in a ground-floor house in Even Yehuda. There was no prior acquaintance between the two and the defendant. The prosecution claims that about two weeks ago, the defendant decided to "cause severe bodily harm to an elderly person," and for this purpose, he armed himself with a knife that he carried in his pocket.
On that same day, it is alleged, the defendant drove from his home in Herzliya to Even Yehuda with the knife in his pants pocket. He parked his car on Kibbutz Galuyot Street and began walking in the area until he reached the house where the caregiver and the elderly woman lived, which he identified as a house where an elderly person resides. At an unknown time, the defendant approached the door and knocked while the two were sleeping.
The caregiver woke up from the knocking and went to open the door. According to the indictment, the moment she opened it, "the defendant lunged at A.A.," grabbed her neck tightly with both hands, and strangled her, despite her attempts to resist. At some point, she lost consciousness. Later, it is alleged, the defendant took the knife out of his pants and tried to stab her in the abdomen, but failed. Afterward, he kicked her several times in the head and face while she was lying on the floor.
According to the indictment, after noticing that the caregiver was lying on the floor unconscious and believing she was dead, he left the house. The caregiver regained consciousness early in the morning and called for help. The next morning, the defendant turned himself in to the police. The attack left the caregiver with severe injuries.
In the prosecution's request to keep the defendant in custody until the end of proceedings, it is claimed that when he turned himself in at the police station, he told the desk officer he met that "he murdered a woman." Later, he described to the officers that he had violently attacked a Filipino or Thai woman and even pointed out on a map the street in Even Yehuda where the attack occurred. Subsequently, a reconstruction and pointing-out procedure was conducted with him at the house.
In his interrogations, the defendant said that a few months before the attack, he was approached via Telegram and asked to perform various tasks, with threats that if he did not comply with their requests, they would kill his family. According to him, he complied with the request and performed tasks, including decapitating a teddy bear and killing a rabbit. He claims the last mission he received was to kill a person. According to his version in the interrogation, he decided to complete the tasks imposed on him and therefore decided to kill an elderly person. The prosecution also has videos that it claims document the stage of purchasing the rabbit.
In the request for detention until the end of proceedings, the prosecution argues that it has prima facie evidence, including the caregiver's testimony, who described the attacker, documentation of the injuries caused to her, medical documents, and the testimony of the doctor who treated her, according to which the injuries indicate an aggressive attack and signs of strangulation on the neck. The prosecution argues that the circumstances of the case, including arming himself with a knife and the violent attack on a foreign woman inside her place of residence at night, indicate the defendant's dangerousness. The state announced it would not oppose referring him for a psychiatric evaluation and requested to order his detention until the end of proceedings.
