Minor in Eilat gang-rape case convicted of indecent assault

In September, the Southern District Attorney’s Office filed 11 indictments regarding the gang rape incident with the Beersheba District Court, with the two ringleaders accused of actual rape.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Updated: MAY 30, 2021 20:01
Israelis take part in a demonstration in support of the 16-year-old victim of a gang rape in Eilat, Tel Aviv, August 23, 2020 (photo credit: TOMER NEUBERG/FLASH90)
Israelis take part in a demonstration in support of the 16-year-old victim of a gang rape in Eilat, Tel Aviv, August 23, 2020
(photo credit: TOMER NEUBERG/FLASH90)
One of the minors involved in the Eilat gang-rape case that shocked Israel last August reached a plea bargain agreement with the prosecution on Sunday and was convicted of indecent assault.
As part of the deal, the minor will be released from police custody to house arrest daily from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
The Southern District Attorney’s Office filed 11 indictments in the case at Beersheba District Court in September. The two ringleaders, 27-year-old Ilizir Meirov and Isi Rafilov, 28, from Hadera have been charged with actual rape.
Meirov is accused of two counts of aggravated rape and Rafilov is accused of one count of aggravated rape and other sex crimes. The two defendants have been in police custody since August and have appealed to the Supreme Court to be transferred to house arrest. The two men have criminal records and have served jail time for other, previous offenses.
Both initially denied having sexual relations with the victim but they later altered their stories and confessed to having sexual relations with her, although they claimed that the acts had been consensual.
The identities of 17-year-old twin brothers from a southern community who are also accused of rape have been withheld because they are minors.
Another defendant, Osher Salma, 19, from Moshav Noga, has been indicted for more minor offenses in connection with the incident, including indecent assault and failure to prevent a crime.
Three other unnamed minors have also been indicted for aiding and abetting the rape under aggravated circumstances and one has been charged for failing to prevent a crime.
Two other minors were charged with indecent assault, and another was charged with soliciting an indecent assault.
The state prosecution sought to keep Meirov and Rafilov and five of the minors in detention for the duration of the trial while agreeing to release the other defendants but restricting their movements.

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Police have revealed the full account of events:
The victim was with her friend at the Red Sea Hotel’s pool and had been drinking. She was heavily intoxicated and felt unwell. One of the older men approached her and made advances, but she rejected him outright, telling him that he was too old for her.
A few of the 17-year-olds were also in the pool, some of whom were known to the victim. Shortly thereafter, the victim, who was not a guest at the hotel, went to the room of a friend to cool down.
When she arrived in hotel room area, one of the two older men met her there, pretending to be a medical professional, and offered to help her. He told the victim’s friend to go to the nearest store and get some snacks, leaving himself with the victim. He then led her into another room.
According to the indictment, the defendants had not registered or paid for the room they entered and illegally appropriated it for their crime.
Several other men then entered the room to engage in the rape and sexual assault. Apart from the two named culprits and a 19-year-old, the other defendants were all 17.
Security cameras captured the men’s entry into and exit from the room and police have used this footage as evidence. Some of the men used their phones to send text messages to their friends to invite them join the others.
The following day, a few of the attackers asked the victim if she wanted to meet them again but she said she had no recollection of being with them the previous night. They tried to remind her, even telling her that there was footage of their deeds, and that is when the victim understood that she had been raped.
Tamar Beeri contributed to this report.


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