Award-winning musician jailed for 25 years for raping sisters, 6 and 10

A Tel Aviv court on Thursday sentenced Ephraim Yegudiev, a lyricist with the award-winning Israeli Andalusian Orchestra, to 25 years in jail for raping two sisters aged 10 and 6.

	Israel Andalusian Orchestra, June 28, 2007
	Photo by: Haaretz

Yegudiev was convicted of rape, molestation and harassment between the years 1992 and 2000. He was ordered to pay NIS 100,000 in compensation to the victims, daughters of family friends.

"The accused used manipulation, deception and cunning to exploit his family connection with the plaintiff and her sister, harming victims who were innocent and vulnerable," a panel of three judges wrote in its verdict.

Yegudiev had taken advantage of the Jewish-orthodox family's strict religious outlook and their obedience to him as a respected friend in an attempt to threaten the victims and ensure their silence, the judges said.

During the trail it emerged that the performer had previous convictions for sexual offenses against two boys aged 11 and 13, to whom he had given religious instructuion. A third trial over the alleged abuse of a 10-year-old has not yet reached a verdict.

Suspicions of Yegudiev's offenses were first raised by his wife, who complained to the police in late 2009.