Man beats girlfriend to death in middle of Tel Aviv street

According to Tel Aviv police, the an argument broke out between the man and his significant other on Chelnov street in south Tel Aviv near the corner of Matalon Street.

By BEN HARTMAN
Updated: SEPTEMBER 29, 2015 00:51
Crime scene [illustrative] (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Crime scene [illustrative]
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
A man bludgeoned his partner to death in the middle of a Tel Aviv street on Monday, police said, before he was apprehended by bystanders.
An argument broke out between the man and his significant other around 7 a.m., on Chelnov Street near the corner of Matalon Street in south Tel Aviv, police said. The man then grabbed a large rock and struck the woman on the head several times, causing her to lose consciousness, officers said.
Paramedics called to the scene pronounced the woman dead not long after.
“We found a woman around 29 years old lying unconscious on the street without a pulse and not breathing. She had a serious head wound and was bleeding from her upper body,” Magen David Adom paramedic Ronen Cohen said.
A Tel Aviv police spokesman said he was not sure if the suspect was drunk or under the influence of drugs when he attacked.
The suspect, described as a 33-year-old citizen of Eritrea, was apprehended by an off-duty volunteer police officer who witnessed the attack. The volunteer stopped the suspect and along with other bystanders held him until police arrived.
The suspect was arrested on suspicion of murder and was to be brought for a remand hearing later on Monday or on Tuesday morning.
Tel Aviv police were trying to determine if the couple – both apparently Eritreans – had a history of domestic violence, and if they had been in touch with social services.
Police said on Monday evening that the suspect confessed to the murder, and later reenacted the crime for investigators at the scene.