Last update - 00:00 28/02/2008
Court closes off key testimonies in murder trial of Golan teen
By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent
The Nazareth district court held a closed hearing Thursday in the trial of groundskeeper Roman Zadorov, who is accused of brutally murdering 13-year-old Tair Rada in a bathroom stall at her school.
The court decided to close the hearing off from the public ? and Rada's family - in order to hear the testimony of four of Rada's classmates that may shed new light on the murder.
Rada's parents, Ilana and Shmuel, were furious over the decision and verbally attacked one of the parents who had requested that her daughter not be questioned in front of a crowd.
After one of the girls left the court house, Rada's mother screamed at her that "Tair will haunt you in your dreams."
The girl then broke down crying and quickly left the courthouse with her father.
"I am the father of the victim. I have a right to hear the testimonies. How can you have this hearing behind closed doors? My daughter is dead and I have a right to hear what the witnesses say," Rada said.
According to the defense, the testimony of one of the girls is key because she had been in the bathroom around the time of the murder.
During the testimonies, Tair's best friend was asked about the possibility that a boy had been harassing Tair on the telephone. The girl said that Tair did say that someone had been bothering her but the girl said "it didn't seem serious and she didn?t show me the messages."
In regards to Zadorov's controversial confession that Rada had asked him for a cigarette and then cursed at him, the girl said that Tair hated cigarettes. She also said that Tair didn't usually curse unless she lost her temper.
A different student testified that she had seen Rada go into the bathroom at 1:40 p.m and not earlier. This testimony refutes the defense's claim that Rada was murdered at 1:30 p.m. ? a time when Zadorov was not in the school.
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