The court on Thursday extended by seven days the detention of the man accused of murdering his 14-year-old son. The presiding judge has forbidden the publication of the father's name and face at this time.
"According to a medical report, the father's mental state is unclear," the judge wrote. "It appears from information in the file that he hears voices and sees things."
At the hearing, some family members testified about the father, saying that "this is a completely normal person who is loved by everyone."
According to them, the suspect went for treatment in which he underwent hypnosis, "and was apparently given the wrong pill," as they put it. "We heard from one of his friends that he told yesterday that he had hallucinations from the pill. He did not have a crisis," they clarified. "In the last few days we felt something was wrong with him, probably because of a pill he took."
At the end of the hearing, the father lay on the floor. The guards picked him up and took him out of the courtroom as he shouted: "I'm trying to bring the Messiah, wake up!" He will most likely be sent for a psychiatric evaluation.
The 37-year-old man is accused of stabbing his 14-year-old son to death in an incident of domestic violence at a home in Kiryat Gat on Wednesday evening. He fled the scene and was arrested by the police after a manhunt.
Magen David Adom paramedics who were called to the home provided the boy with medical care and evacuated him in critical condition to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, where he was later pronounced dead.