Sexual assault victim (stock image)
Sexual assault victim (stock image)i-Stock

A Palestinian Arab man was indicted Sunday for the kidnapping and rape of a seven-year-old Israeli girl he met during his work at an Israeli school.

According to the indictment filed by prosecutors at the Ofer military prison outside of Jerusalem, the suspect, a resident of the Palestinian Authority-controlled town of Deir Qaddis west of Ramallah and north of Modi'in Illit, had been employed at a school in an Israeli town in the Binyamin district of Samaria.

The suspect had worked as a janitor at the school, and met the victim while working there. He befriended the girl, the indictment claims, speaking with her and giving her candies.

One day, however, the suspect kidnapped the girl, taking her by force to a house in the area, where he forced her down and raped her.

During the rape, the young girl screamed and called for help, but was held down by several other Arab men who helped the suspect rape her.

Afterwards, the suspect let the girl return home.

Following an extensive, months-long investigation, authorities filed the indictment Sunday, charging the suspect with aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping.

Attorney Haim Bleicher from the Honenu organization, who is representing the family, said in a statement Sunday:

“This was an extremely cruel and shocking incident, during which other people were present, apparently other Palestinian workers who humiliated the girl and mocked her and helped the accused,” said Bleicher, calling the accused and the other workers who took part in the assault “a group of scum who went against all human values because the victim is Jewish.”

Despite their involvement, Kan journalist Carmel Dangor wrote Monday, no arrests have yet been made of the workers who aided the suspect in carrying out the rape. At least two additional suspects are believed to have taken part in the attack.

“There were friends of the Palestinian suspect present in the house while the rape of the seven-year-old girl was taking place,” wrote Dangor. “They laughed at her and held her arms and legs so she couldn’t fight back.”

“As of now, they haven’t been arrested.”

“They told her ‘You deserve this, and if you want to leave here, don’t tell anyone’,” the victim’s parents revealed, according to Channel 12.