‘She Knew Him and Was Not Afraid of Him’: Interview With the Mother of a 16-Year-Old Allegedly Raped by a Taxi Driver

Taxi driver Albert Yishmailov was arrested on suspicion of raping a young woman while driving her home. The complainant’s mother described her daughter’s condition since the incident, saying, “She is really afraid and terrified.” According to her, her daughter had been riding in taxis for years, and even knew Yishmailov. She also said her daughter told her she tried to fight back and get out of the taxi, but was unable to do so: “He simply kidnapped her to a remote area where there was no one, and raped her.”

Odded Ben Ami, Six, Published: 10.06.26, 21:54

Short news: A taxi driver was arrested on suspicion of raping a 16-year-old girl during a late-night ride she ordered home. Her mother said, “My daughter is in a very bad psychological state, she is not sleeping and not eating.” According to the mother, her daughter had been riding in taxis for years, and she and her friends even knew the same driver. She recounted what her daughter told her: “He simply kidnapped her to a remote area, where he brutally raped her.” The complainant also said the driver threatened her after returning her home: “If I go to prison for many years, I will kill the husband and children you will have.”

Albert Yishmailov, 33, a former police officer and Border Police fighter who works as a taxi driver, was arrested on suspicion of raping a 16-year-old girl whom he was supposed to drive from a friend’s house to her home late at night. This evening, Wednesday, the girl’s mother spoke with News 12. The suspect driver Albert Yishmailov, archive.

“My daughter is not in a good state at all, her psychological condition is very severe,” the mother said tearfully. “She was already a thin, small girl, and now she is even thinner and smaller, she has reached 36 kilos. She does not sleep, she does not eat. She only dresses in very large black clothes, hoodies, sweatshirts, even though it is summer now. She is not alone for a minute, she is really afraid and terrified.”

The mother also recounted what her daughter told her about the difficult ride home from her friend’s house, and said she was the one who had gotten her used to ordering taxis regularly, for her safety. “For years I was afraid she would go out alone, that something would happen to her on the street at night,” she said. “That is why I kept paying, thousands and tens of thousands of shekels, to Gett Taxi, so she would never be alone.”

“That night she ordered a ride through Gett,” the mother continued. “The same driver arrived, and instead of taking her home, he kidnapped her. He deviated from the route to somewhere else entirely. During a not-short ride of fifteen or twenty minutes, a frightened girl sits in the taxi wanting to go home to her mother, trying to get out, not understanding where he is taking her. He simply kidnapped her to a remote area where there was no one, a deserted place with only garages and factories. There he brutally raped her inside the taxi.”

The mother said the driver, Yishmailov, returned her home after the serious incident and threatened her: “He told her, ‘If you tell anyone, if you complain to the police and I go to prison for many years, when I get out you will already have a husband and children, and I will kill them.’”

The mother added that her daughter and her friends had ridden with Gett Taxi drivers they knew. “I did not personally know this driver, but the girls knew him,” she said. “They used to ride with a certain driver, and this driver was a friend of that driver. When he could not take them, they got used to riding with the friend. So she knew him, all the girls knew him, and they were not afraid of him.”

“Important to say that as a family we have gone through trauma,” the mother concluded regarding her daughter’s condition. “Being by her side, caring for her, seeing bursts of crying and shouting. These are terrible symptoms of very severe post-trauma.”

The shocking incident allegedly took place in April. The 16-year-old filed a complaint with police against Yishmailov two weeks after the incident, shortly after she told her parents what had happened that night. Yishmailov was arrested as stated and brought to court, where it was decided to extend his remand. The girl’s attorneys said additional testimonies had been received against him.