Last update - 00:00 13/12/2006
Court jails man for 18-months over rape of 3-month-old daughter
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
A Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday sentenced a father convicted of raping his two daughters -one of which was only 3-months-old at the time- to 18 months in prison. His wife is currently being tried for the baby's death by neglect.
According to the indictment, the man, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Ariel, beat his 4-year-old daughter. It also stated that when he found the body of his daughter, he shook the corpse in the air and slapped it.
Judge Zvi Gurfinkle decided to lighten the sentence because his wife was allegedly responsible for the baby's death and his other two daughters had already been taken away by the childcare services.
"One must not ignore these facts during sentencing," Gurfinkle wrote in his sentence.
Earlier on Wednesday, a Jerusalem District Court sentenced a man found guilty of rape and assaulting a police officer to five and a half years in jail.
The convicted man had been jailed for a felony shortly after he married his wife six years ago. After he was released from prison he returned home and demanded to have sex with her. When she refused he raped her.
During his arrest, the man shouted and spat at a police officer.