Haifa man arrested after alleged child filming and hammer attack at park

A 72-year-old Haifa resident was arrested Friday on suspicion that he filmed a young girl while she was using the restroom in Gan HaRuba, the square park in the Ramat Begin neighborhood, and later returned to attack her mother with a hammer. Police said the report reached the emergency line after the man allegedly recorded the child in the park. An argument then broke out between him and the girl’s father.

According to police, the suspect left the scene, but returned shortly afterward carrying a hammer and assaulted the mother, who was still there. Several people in the park, together with a police officer who happened to be present off duty, restrained him until officers from the Haifa station arrived. He was arrested, questioned and jailed at the end of the investigation.

Police are expected to ask a court on Saturday to extend his detention. The incident took place in front of many children who were in the public garden at the time.

The local school administration later sent parents a notice saying children had been exposed to violent scenes. In the letter, the school wrote that “in the last hour, a unusual incident occurred in Gan HaRuba,” and said that “one of the neighbors tried to photograph a little girl while she was doing her business, her mother confronted him and he hurt her.” The school said children in the park saw the physical violence and the reaction of several adults, and urged parents to check whether their children were present and speak with them, calm them, and help restore a sense of safety.