Last update - 00:00 17/04/2007
Ramle man confesses to murdering sister, burning body 12 years ago
By Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondent
Yosef Mugrabi, a Ramle man in his 50s, arrived at the Lod police station early Tuesday morning and confessed to murdering his sister, Sarah Mugrabi, and then setting fire to her body 12 years ago.
He cited the reason for the crime as an "honor killing." Mugrabi and his brother were both arrested after executing the murder in 1995 but were released due to insufficient evidence
The killing was the fifth murder within Mugrabi's extended family since the early 1980s.
Mugrabi re-enacted the murder at the scene of the crime, and is to attend a hearing at the Ramle Magistrate's Court Tuesday to determine his sentence.
Upon entering the police station, Mugrabi told the officer on duty that he had come to make a confession. He then pointed to his neck and said that he attempted to commit suicide by strangling himself. Police said he described how he strangled his sister, hid her body, and then burned it to ashes and scattered the remains. Since that time, Sarah Mugrabi has been deemed missing.
After Sarah Mugbrabi's disappearance, the police began to investigate the crime and arrested the suspect and his brother for allegedly committing the murder. However, after 40 days they released the two suspects for insufficient evidence.
This was the fifth murder in the Mugrabi family. In addition to Sarah's murder, a daughter in the family, Ovpika Mugrabi from Ramle, was killed. In January of 1997, Amira Lila Mugrabi, 36, was murdered by a blow the head at the entrance to her house in the Rakevet sector of the city. The underlying reason for this case was cited as "honor killing." Her husband, Sarah's brother, who has a record of criminal offenses, was suspected of involvement in the murder. He was arrested after it was discovered that he was angry with his wife for working at a hospital.
In February of 1998, Hadija Mugrabi, 16, was murdered. In the early 1980s, Gimlat Mugrabi, Amira's sister, was shot to death