Last update - 00:00 14/08/2007
Foreign consul's domestic assistant accuses him of rape
By Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz Correspondent
Police on Monday brought a 47-year-old illegal immigrant face to face with the consul whom she accuses of raping her when she worked as his domestic assistant.
The woman says the honorary consul, who is from an unnamed state, raped her twice, withheld her wages and forbade her to leave his Tel Aviv house. She said his friend also raped her and other molested her at the consul's dinner parties. The consul has denied all charges.
Police sources confirmed he had been questioned under warning, and said they expected the investigation to be completed in a few days.
The woman said she was brought to Israel in 2005 by an employment agency to work as a domestic assistant for the consul and entered the country without a work visa. She had been promised a wage of $1,000 per month, but said the consul refused to pay her saying she first had to return the cost of bringing her to Israel.
She said that after she begged him he paid her $200 but gave her no days off, and allowed her to leave the house only to walk the dogs or in his company.
After fleeing the consul's house last year, the woman was caught by the Immigration Police. But after hearing her story, the police decided to investigate. The woman is now staying in a shelter for victims of trafficking in women.
The consul's attorney, Yehoshua Resnick, said the woman had not been brought to work for the consul at all, but "to train in managing warehouses" for a few weeks. He said she invented the accusations when her visa wasn't renewed.