Girl (illustrative)
Girl (illustrative)iStock

The father of a 7-year-old Jewish girl believed to have been raped by a Palestinian Authority Arab employed as a janitor in her school said the family is "going through difficult days. We're living in a nightmare."

"We are always praying and hoping that G-d will give our daughter the strength to cope, not just with the traumatic event she went through but also with the events of the past two days, when people are seriously questioning her emotional and mental stability."

According to Yediot Aharonot, the family has hired attorneys Yehuda Fried and Tal Gabbay, in an attempt to expedite the police process.

"Our job with this case is to ensure that not a single stone remains unturned, and that those responsible for these traumatic acts are punished to the fullest extend of the law," Fried and Gabbay said. "We remind anyone who may have forgotten that an extremely serious indictment has been filed against the suspect."

Difficulties have come up from the fact that the complaint was only filed ten days after the rape occurred, reports claim. Prior to that time, the family had tried to discover the truth on its own. According to the reports, the rape itself occurred on April 5, and the complaint was filed on April 15.

According to Yediot Aharonot, the father said he suspected the Arab cleaner even before his daughter identified him. In addition, the mother arrived at the school and watched video clips in which she identified 46-year-old Mahmoud Nazmi Abed Alhamid Katusa even before her daughter initially identified him. Afterwards, when the victim and her mother were walking together in the school, the girl spontaneously identified Katusa as the one who had harmed her.