Stabbing attack
Stabbing attackiStock

On Sunday, a court hearing was held into a violent incident that occurred last week in Ashdod, in which a 17-year-old yeshiva student was stabbed and seriously injured in a public park. During the course of the hearing, it emerged that police investigators have found a bloodstained knife at the scene of the incident. Behadrey Haredim reports that the police are still attempting to ascertain who exactly was behind the stabbing incident, and at Sunday’s hearing, they requested a second extension to the detention of the two people currently being held with regard to the crime, one of whom is from Bnei Brak and the other who is from Modi’in Illit. The two were apprehended immediately after the stabbing.

During his interrogation, one of the suspects confessed to having caused the stabbing, but he also argued that it came about by human error, due to a key that he was holding at the time. This argument is contradicted by the finding of the bloodstained knife, which appears to have been the weapon that caused the youth’s serious injuries. The yeshiva student, meanwhile, has been transferred out of the ICU following an emergency operation, and is currently recovering in Ashdod’s Assuta hospital.

The court acceded to the police’s request and extended the remand of the two suspects by four days. In her ruling, the judge explained her reason for extending the remand of the first suspect: “The evidence that has been presented implicates the defendant in his involvement in the incident and also conflates his role in the incident with regard to the involvement of the additional suspect, who also played an active part, although the results of the investigation appear to indicate that the defendant was the one who actually perpetrated the stabbing of the victim.”

The attorney representing the suspect responded that the incident began when the children of his client were attacked, allegedly by family members of the victim. He requested that the judge approve the release of his client with restrictive conditions. “I would not make such a request if this were a case of a criminal stabbing incident, but this is far from being the case,” he noted.

According to the defense attorney, “We’re talking about a regular young man, the father of six children, a good person in every way. It’s true that an incident occurred in which someone was injured, but even the police do not dispute the fact that the incident began when the small children of the defendant were attacked. In such a situation, it is the responsibility of the court to support the investigative process as far as possible. Each additional day that my client sits in prison is a terrible injustice to him.”

The second suspect has also had his remand extended by four days; he is also accused of being involved in an attack on other people involved in the dispute. A police spokesman noted during Sunday’s hearing that, “The [second] defendant is suspected of attacking the victims; it is suspected that he punched several people during the incident.”