Subscribe to Print Edition | Mon., September 15, 2008 Elul 15, 5768 | | Israel Time: 02:28 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Wife of AIDS carrier accused of rape: He is a gentle man, a wonderful father By Ruth Sinai Tags: AIDS, israel  The Netanya Magistrate's Court remanded for five more days the man suspected of raping two mentally disabled women and infecting them with the AIDS virus. Wobit Meir Avuhi, 37, who had been employed in a hostel where the two women were living, confessed that he had attacked one of the women in the shower. He reenacted the attack for the police. Police have not completed their investigation of the second alleged attack, the victim of which is a minor. Avuhi's wife said Saturday that she did not believe her husband was capable of such acts. "He is a gentle, charming man, a wonderful father," she said. Advertisement According to the wife, she and her husband do not know how he could have been infected with the virus that causes AIDS, nor did they know that he was a carrier until a year and a half ago, when one of the twins born to them died shortly after birth and was found to have been infected with the HIV virus. Avuhi's wife said the other children had been tested and were all found to be healthy. The couple has five children; the eldest is 13 and the youngest is 18 months old. On Friday they were sitting together and reading about their father's arrest and the acts attributed to him. "They don't believe it; they tell me, 'our dad is not crazy and would do things like that,'" the wife said. "My son got an email from a classmate who asked if he also had AIDS," the wife said. "He couldn't stop crying. He doesn't want to go to school." The family was preparing to celebrate the boy's bar mitzvah in a few weeks at an events hall. "The police told Meir that if he confessed, they would let him attend the bar mitzvah," the wife said. "So he said, 'Alright, I did it.' That's the way he is. But I don't believe it. Never mind a woman, but a minor? Those are the most unfortunate people there are. How is it possible to hurt them?" The wife, 35, immigrated to Israel some 20 years ago. Avuhi came 18 years ago, and met her in Jerusalem. She works at a nursing home and he worked at a factory after he was fired four and a half years ago from his caregiver job at the hostel, following a complaint by another staff member that he had been peeking into the female residents' showers. The couple had intended to move to another neighborhood soon. "Here everyone's from the community. We wanted a mixed area for the children," the mother said. Now they would certainly have to move, she added. "It has to be a place where they won't know about us; where the children won't be ashamed," she said. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Beatle terror Islamic militant leader threatens to kill former Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney, over Israel gig. Fugee Fridays Every Friday, volunteers bring donated food from Carmel Market to African refugees.   1.   Get your headline right... 12:08  |  Chaim69 14/09/08   2.   response to 1st posting 15:41  |  Daniel L 14/09/08

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