Shelly Dadon
Shelly DadonCourtesy of the Dadon Family

The prosecution filed an indictment against taxi driver Hussein Khalifa on Wednesday, the terrorist arrested in the murder of 20 year-old Shelly Dadon. 

Police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) arrested 34-year-old Hussein Yousef Khalifa, from the Arab village of Iblin in the Galilee, on suspicion that he carried out the murder for "nationalistic" reasons.

Khalifa subsequently confessed to the murder, and reenacted the crime for police. 

Re-enactment

The Israel Security Agency communique said last week that "In the wake of expedited intelligence activity, the Israel Police and the ISA, on 16 June 2014, arrested Hussein Yousef Hussein Khalifa, from Iblin in the Galilee, on suspicion of involvement in the 1 May 2014 murder of Shelly Dadon in the Migdal Haemek industrial zone.

"During ISA questioning, Hussein Khalifa confessed to murdering Dadon and disclosed many details regarding the murder.

"Hussein Khalifa, 34, from Iblin, is a taxi driver who drove workers to and from factories in the Migdal Haemek industrial zone. On the morning of the day of the murder, after dropping off workers at one of the factories as he did daily, he continued toward the center of town (Migdal Haemek) where he picked up the deceased. She requested that he drive her to a job interview in the industrial zone. He drove her to an abandoned parking lot on the outskirts of the industrial zone (not far from her requested destination) where he stabbed her to death and fled the scene in his cab.

"According to his version, after perpetrating the murder, Hussein Khalifa threw away the murder weapon and the deceased's cellphone as he fled the scene, and later washed bloodstains from his cab. He also threw away the deceased's wallet near the community of Beit Zarzir.

'While Hussein Khalifa's motives have yet to be fully clarified, the ISA assessment is that the murder was perpetrated for nationalistic reasons."

'No mercy'

Further details about the case have also emerged in the indictment, Walla! reports, such as the fact that Dadon called a cousin as the cab veered off course saying that she is in "one of those scary cabs" and that she "couldn't breathe." The call was cut off shortly thereafter. 

Khalifa decided to murder Dadon after the call was made, the indictment said, adding that she put up a significant struggle during the attack. Dadon's stab wounds were "very deep" and over multiple points throughout her torso. The indictment adds that Khalifa stabbed her repeatedly, "without mercy." 

Dadon was also left to die in the parking lot, having been still alive when thrown out of the cab, the report said. 

"His actions caused the death of the defendant willfully, after he decided to kill her," the indictment concludes. "He killed her in cold blood without any immediately preceding provocation before the fact." 

Khalifa is being charged with murder, possession of a knife, attempted murder, and obstruction of justice.

Despite Khalifa's detailed confession, he has nonetheless attempted to deny the charges, claiming in court Wednesday that he was coerced into confessing.

"I didn't do it," he claimed. "I broke down and admitted the murder after I was interrogated by investigators." 

Pictures from the indictment: