Last update - 00:00 29/07/2007
Man accused of abducting, killing his wife to be charged in court
By Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondent
An indictment against a 30-year-old resident of Lod accused of kidnapping and murdering his wife will be filed on Sunday at the Tel Aviv District Court.
While Sami Iyad continues to deny murdering Valentina Dombayev, police say they have enough evidence to prove his guilt. They cite, for example, that Sami visited just one day before the murder the location in which Dombayev's body was found.
The body of Dombayev, 24, was found about two weeks ago near Ashdod. Police found the body hidden behind bushes on the side of the road, after searching for three days.
Sami, 30, originially from Ramallah, was arrested while his wife's body was still missing. Sami admitted to kidnapping his wife and her friend, but claimed that they managed to escape from his car on the way to Ashdod.
During police searches for Dombayev's body, Sami led police to the site in which it was later found, but said during questioning he had brought them to where his wife managed to escape, and did not know she was dead.
As Haaretz reported ten days ago, investigators have not managed to ascertain exactly how Valentina Dombayev was killed. While they suspect she was choked or poisoned, an autopsy performed on the body did not point to a conclusive cause of death.
Dombayev's friend Ilana, who had been kidnapped with Dombayev in the Holon area, managed to escape from the car trunk in which they had been locked. She said Sami and another man kidnapped her and Dombayev and bound them.
"I prayed to God to help me," Ilana told her mother. "I prayed that if I die it would be in Israel, otherwise they were going to smuggle us to Gaza where no one would know if I'm alive or dead."