Parents suspected of kidnapping, running over teenage daughter
Ramle couple thought to have targeted 18-year-old, who lived in a different city, due to fears that her lifestyle would 'dishonor' the family name; teen escaped and was found wounded on road in Rahat
The incident happened two weeks ago when the parents drove from the central part of the country to the southern Bedouin city of Rahat where their daughter lived – and according to suspicions tried to abduct her.
Police say the two first ran her over and then dragged her into the car. She fought them off, opened the car door and jumped out while the car was moving.
According to suspicions, the mother of the victim was the driver while the father pulled her into the car.
The young woman was found wounded on a road in Rahat and taken to Soroka Medical Center in nearby Be'er Sheva. She says that until the age of 15 she attended a regular school in Ramle and afterwards transferred to an institution out of the city "because of threats to my life by my father."
The parents allegedly feared that because their daughter lived alone in Rahat without the supervision of a male family member, she would dishonor her family's name.
Without family protection, they allegedly feared she would be labelled as an unmarried woman with "problems."
Due to this independence, her parents also claimed she has mental issues, although police said they did not notice anything when speaking to her.
A witness to the alleged abduction said he saw a car run over a woman on the sidewalk, who was then pulled into the vehicle by someone sitting in the back seat.
The witness said the car then drove with the door open and the girl's legs sticking out.
Local Rahat police arrested the parents two days after the alleged incident and the two were charged in Be'er Sheva Magistrate's Court with kidnapping and with the intention to cause bodily harm.
"These are serious offences that they have committed against their daughter," said a police representative. "We have hard evidence linking the two to these offences."
The police also said that it appears that the car "intentionally ran over the victim and she was then forced into the vehicle."
During their interrogation, the parents reportedly said that they wanted to take their daughter home to protect her, which police saiid contradicts the evidence that they have.
"They did not come to take her home or to protect her," said a police spokesperson.
The father's attorney, Ori Dayagi, said that the daughter suffers from severe intellectual disabilities and was placed in an institution in the north of the country. He claimed that she would often escape home and behave in a way that "endangered her."
Despite claims by her parents of her disabilities, police said that, "none of those who interviewed her noticed any disability or mental issue. She was very persistent in her testimony."
The father's lawyer also insisted that his client's daughter "is in real danger for her life when walking about in Rahat."
He added: "Her parents came to take her home. Not to abduct her or to attack her. Because she continues to behave in a way that endangers her like when she jumped out the car while it was moving."
The mother's defense attorney also said that the parents came to Rahat after they got a call that their daughter was wandering around without a place to sleep.
Judge Yariv Ben David said during the first court hearing that the "evidence points to extremely violent offences carried out for the purpose of protecting the `family honor.`"
