Homeless Man Charged With Murdering Bnei Brak Rabbi After Prior Threat

Israeli prosecutors on Sunday filed an indictment with the Tel Aviv District Court against Guy Achtlinger, a 45-year-old homeless man, accusing him of murdering a 53-year-old yeshiva student in a Bnei Brak study hall while the victim’s 13-year-old son watched. The charges include murder under aggravated circumstances, abuse of a minor, and obstruction of justice. The case was filed by attorney Meredit Shiban Parak of the Tel Aviv District Prosecutor’s Office.

According to the indictment, Achtlinger and the victim knew each other through Torah study at the Bnei Brak kollel. About a week before the killing, while both were at the site, Achtlinger threatened him, saying, “I will cut off your head,” and for reasons that are not known decided to kill him.

Several days later, prosecutors say, he returned to the kollel wearing a glove and carrying a knife. The victim and his son were sitting on a bench with their backs to the entrance. Achtlinger allegedly approached from behind and stabbed the man several times in the neck and once in the back, intending to kill him, all in front of the boy.

After the attack, Achtlinger fled the scene. The indictment says he hid the jacket he had worn, the glove, and the knife in an abandoned building nearby in an effort to destroy evidence. He then traveled to Beit Shemesh, where he was arrested a few hours later. The victim collapsed at the scene, was taken to Sheba Medical Center with massive bleeding and no consciousness, and was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Prosecutors say the minor-abuse charge stems from forcing the 13-year-old to witness his father’s murder, and the obstruction charge relates to the alleged concealment of evidence.