Last update - 00:00 18/12/2006
Sela allegedly sexually assaults officer, 10 days after capture
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent
Serial rapist Benny Sela on Monday allegedly sexually assaulted a female warden from cell at the Rimonim Prison, ten days after his capture by police following a two week escape.
The incident occurred as the officer was making her rounds in the isolated wing of the prison where Sela is being held. As she spoke to Sela through a small window in his cell, she realized he was inappropriately touching himself.
The officer left the wing and filed a complaint with the police. This is the third public act of sexual assault Sela has carried out since his imprisonment six years ago.
In 2004, Sela sexually assaulted a female prison officer in the Nitzan Prison, and in April 2005, he assaulted a student of social work who came to the prison to interview him.
Sela's new prison conditions are considered to be especially severe. After his arrest, Israel Prison Services said that Sela would be held in isolation for 23 hours a day, and would be allowed to go out to the prison courtyard for an hour a day, cuffed at his feet and hands. He was to be completely disconnected from other convicts.
Sela is serving a 35-year sentence for 14 counts of sexual assault, rape and sodomy on women in the Tel Aviv area over the course of five years prior to his arrest in January 2001.