State prosecutors filed a severe indictment on Thursday in the Jerusalem District Court against 27-year-old Khalil Ayad, accusing him of murdering his three-year-old son and attempting to obstruct evidence and proceedings. According to the indictment, Ayad suffocated the child with a plastic bag while the two were alone at home.
The alleged killing took place after Ayad’s wife left for work, leaving him with their two children, a four-year-old daughter and the toddler son. When the boy began crying, Ayad took him to the children’s room, put him on the bed and placed a plastic bag over his head. Prosecutors say he held the bag around the child’s neck and restrained his hands to stop him from breaking free, intending to kill him. The boy struggled before losing consciousness, and his death was determined to have been caused by suffocation.
The indictment further says the daughter entered the room during the attack and witnessed what happened. Ayad allegedly ordered her out, then told her to sit beside her brother while he left the house to throw the bag into a public trash bin in an effort to destroy evidence and obstruct justice. After discarding the bag, he returned home, left the children in the room and prayed, knowing his son was already dead, until his wife came back.
Ayad is also charged with emotional abuse of his daughter, who witnessed the act. The indictment includes murder under aggravated circumstances involving a minor under his responsibility, child abuse by a guardian, and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors asked the court to keep him in custody until the end of the proceedings. Attorney Yael Igra said, “This is an especially difficult and unusual case. The one who was supposed to be the safest place for the toddler took his life. His little sister also became, against her will, a witness to the most terrible family tragedy imaginable.”
