Last update - 00:00 10/09/2006
Suspect in Lod double murder agrees to testify as state witness
By Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondent
Police have picked a state witness from among five suspected in connection to the double murder of a 3-year-old girl and her aunt in Lod last May.
One of the five suspects has agreed to testify against the others in exchange for government protection and for possible exoneration for his connection to the crime, a gag order lifted Sunday revealed. All of the suspects are believed to belong to the Jerushi crime family.
Leah Katayev, 3, and her aunt Nadia Glibob, 34, were killed in May when passengers in a car next to theirs opened fire on them at a red light. Katayev and Glibob were killed instantly, and two of their relatives riding in the car were seriously wounded.
Police suspect that the shooting had been part of an attempt to target Itzik Abergil, leader of the Abergil crime family, who was at an event nearby.
Haaretz had petitioned the court to remove the gag order shortly before the suspects were arrested in July.