Police on Saturday arrested several suspects following the brutal rape of a mother of three in Gedera on Thursday night.
Police said the woman’s children were asleep in their rooms when at least one of the suspects broke into the home and raped the woman, causing her physical injuries. She was taken for medical treatment forensic evidence was collected from the home.
Police Central District commander Avi Biton ordered his officers to use all means and any number of personnel needed to investigate the incident as swiftly as possible in order to effect an arrest.
Netanyahu: I expect the full severity of the law to be used
Investigators found that after the sexual assault had taken place, one suspect took a bottle of beer from the woman’s fridge and drank from it before making his escape. This was a “significant mistake by the suspect... and investigators will be able to use the evidence left on the bottle to track him down,” Biton said in a media briefing before the man was apprehended.
On Saturday evening, police said that forensic evidence led to the arrest of six Bedouin citizens, all from the same family, who most likely work in Gedera.
רעייתי שרה ואני מזועזעים מאירוע האונס המחריד שהתרחש הלילה בגדרה. עודכנתי שמפקד מחוז מרכז במשטרה קיים הערכת מצב מיוחדת ובהתאם הטיל את מלאכת החקירה על היחידה המרכזית במחוז. מצפה למיצוי מלא של חומרת הדין.
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) February 3, 2023
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on an official visit to Paris, expressed shock and called for “the full severity of the law to be used,” in a statement released on Friday.
Was the suspect hunted down using a beer bottle?
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited Gedera on Friday afternoon and local residents demanded he beef up individual security.
Ben-Gvir vowed to “fight 24/7 to make a change... this happened on my watch and I am committed to doing everything to restore security here.”
השר לביטחון לאומי בן גביר הגיע לבקר בעיר גדרה וחטף מהתושבים: הבטחת ביטחון pic.twitter.com/bdrxuNkqiT
— Dan m (@Dmonsel) February 3, 2023