Two men allegedly lured the woman into an abandoned building after asking her for help with a baby, then raped her, police say.
By BEN HARTMANPolice car in Tel Aviv at night 311(photo credit: Yoni Cohen)
Two Eritrean men lured an Israeli woman to an abandoned building in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning, where one of them raped her while the other kept watch, police said on Thursday.According to Tel Aviv Police, the 39-year-old woman was walking down Hamasger Street Wednesday morning when two Eritrean men stopped her and said he needed help with his baby. Police said she followed them to the abandoned building and was then dragged inside by the two men and then raped by one of the men while the other stood guard outside the building.Police said the woman tried to flee at one point but was dragged back inside.That same day police said they took the woman back to the scene of the crime, where she spotted one of the two suspects. Police said the man was taken into custody where he confessed to his role in the crime. Police are still looking for the second suspect.Police would not say on Thursday if the man arrested was the one who committed the alleged rape or the one who guarded the building, adding that from the police perspective they are both conspirators to the same crime.On Thursday morning the 33-year-old suspect was brought before the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, where police said they will seek a remand of a few days in order to pursue the case further.Rumors and reports of violent and property crime committed by African migrants in Tel Aviv have stoked tension and anti-migrant violence in the city in recent months.In May, three African migrants were indicted in the sexual assault of a teenage girl on the eve of Independence Day near the Central Bus Station, a crime that was widely-reported shortly before an anti-migrant rally in the Hatikvah Neighborhood spiraled out of control into anti-migrant violence.
