Tel Aviv rape case : Eritrean rapist deemed mentally unstable

An Eritrean man accused of the violent assault and rape of a Tel Aviv woman was released from the Abarbanel Mental Health Center and neither the police nor the State Prosecutor's Office were informed. According to the indictment filed about six months ago, Dawit Gabarzagbir, 21, from Eritrea entered the home of the middle-aged woman at 3:30 am, hit her on the head with a brick, threatened her with a knife and tried raping her.

Dawit Gabarzagbir during investigation

At the time, the police requested that Dawit be remanded pending the conclusion of the legal proceedings but during the October trial, proceedings against him were terminated after he was declared mentally unstable and admitted to the Abarbanel Mental Health Center for treatment. The State Prosecutor's Office promised to follow the progress of his treatment but on November 26, a psychiatric committee determined that the accused should be released. Two days later, the State Prosecutor's Office filed a new indictment on the subject, but Gabarzagbir was already freed.

Just a month later, after the authorities completely ignored the chain of events and the accused was released, his name was raised as a possible suspect in the rape of the elderly lady from south Tel Aviv A police investigation at the medical center unveiled to investigators that Gabarzagbir was released and then came the suspicion that he may have managed to attack again.  His photo was distributed amongst police officers from the Tel Aviv District, intelligence coordinators were instructed to locate him and he was caught in the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood after less than 24 hours.

Rape victim's house

 Tel Aviv State Attorney's Office on Thursday issued an indictment against him accused of raping an 83-year-old woman in south Tel Aviv some two weeks ago. The man was charged with rape, abuse and indecent acts. According to the indictment, the suspect arrived at the victim's home in the early morning hours approximately two weeks ago, jumped over a fence into her courtyard and raped her repeatedly.The indictment charges that the incident continued for hours and that the suspect also struck the victim a number of times. The suspect allegedly stopped his attack and fled when a relative of the woman arrived at the scene.The victim was caused bodily trauma by the attack and was hospitalized for a week following the incident.The Tel Aviv State Attorney's Office has requested that the suspect remain in custody during legal proceedings against him.Police identified the suspect using DNA taken at the scene.The suspect was not cooperating with investigators and was only saying that he didn’t remember anything, police said.