Central Israel man jailed 11 years and 8 months for raping his partner

The Central District Court in Lod sentenced a man from central Israel to 11 years and 8 months in prison after convicting him of two aggravated rape offenses, one rape offense and three attempted rapes against his partner and the mother of his children. He was also ordered to pay her 70,000 shekels in compensation. The court found that between April and December 2022 he carried out four separate assaults, using violence, threats and humiliation in a home the judges described as a place of sustained terror.

According to the verdict, the man repeatedly forced sex on the woman even after she clearly refused. In one incident, while she was asleep, he stripped her and tried to penetrate her without consent. When she woke and resisted, their baby daughter woke up as well, and he tried to pull the child from her arms, shoved the woman back toward the bed and tried again. In another case, after the couple had been drinking and she fell asleep, he removed her underwear and told her, “You are my wife, I will do whatever I want with you.” He then beat her, dragged her to the bed and raped her.

In a third assault, after she said she did not want sex, he told her that as his wife he could have sex with her whenever he wanted and threatened her not to refuse. When she declined oral sex, he grabbed her neck, pulled her hair, forced his penis against her mouth, tore her dress and raped her on the bed while holding her down. In the final incident, after a family Friday meal and an argument, he threw her onto the bed, slapped her, pulled her hair until strands came out, choked her and slammed her head into a wall. She opened the bedroom window and called for help, but he tore her underwear, struck her, demanded oral sex and finally raped her again before she escaped to the street and called police.

The judges said an audio recording from the last attack captured the defendant threatening and insulting her while ignoring repeated pleas to stop. They said they fully believed her testimony, which was supported by additional evidence, and rejected his version. They ruled that he treated her as an instrument for his sexual gratification and created a regime of fear in the home. The court also noted a prior robbery conviction, for which he had previously received treatment and leniency, but said he had not learned from that opportunity and committed these offenses while in treatment, never accepted responsibility and continued to blame the complainant.

Prosecutor Tali Keret of the Central District Prosecutor’s Office said the attacks took place in the couple’s home, which should have been her safest place, and that the man exploited their power imbalance and ignored her will, dignity and bodily autonomy. The judges said a woman’s right to control her body does not diminish in an intimate relationship and that rape within a partnership causes profound fear, betrayal and long-term psychological harm. They expressed hope that the complainant can rebuild her life after the criminal proceedings.