Man in Bat Yam Detained for Alleged Rape of Young Woman After Encounter in Park

The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court extended the detention of a 51-year-old man from Bat Yam by four days on Friday. He is suspected of raping an approximately 18-year-old woman in the city. The hearing was held behind closed doors. According to the victim's testimony, she met the suspect at a café in Bat Yam and shortly after went with him to a nearby park, where he began touching her. He then persuaded her to accompany him to a hotel apartment, where he allegedly violently raped her.

Following the victim's account, Bat Yam police and forensic investigators from the Ayalon district launched an investigation and collected evidence at the scene. The suspect was arrested shortly thereafter. During interrogation, he claimed the encounter was consensual and that the woman had told him she was older. He also alleged that her family threatened him by phone afterward.

The suspect has a prior criminal record, including an indictment filed in April for violating a court order and causing property damage. That case involved him forcibly attempting to enter the apartment of his estranged partner in Bat Yam, despite protection orders forbidding him from doing so. The couple, who share four daughters aged 9 to 16, are separated, and the complainant lives with the children in the apartment.

The indictment details that on January 21, 2025, around 10:30 p.m., the suspect knocked forcefully on the apartment door and tried to break in when the woman and her daughters did not open it, damaging the door handle. Family court orders from 2021 and 2022 prohibit him from entering or approaching within 200 meters of the apartment. Additionally, in 2022, he allegedly threatened the family court judge handling their case and the judge's family, making explicit threats and stating he "does not count" the judge and knows his schedule and residence. Threats were also made against the judge's spouse.