Judge's sympathy for Assi Dayan ires police

The police prosecutor's office want actor and director Assi Dayan sent to prison for admitting to making threats and being violent toward his former domestic partner while she was in advanced pregnancy, but Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court Judge Zion Kapah yesterday lifted restrictions on Dayan's movement.

Dayan had been under house arrest in the south.

The judge based his decision on a Probation Service statement that Dayan poses little risk at this time; he needs to be in touch with his mother; and he also needs medical treatment at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer.

Dayan's lawyer argued at yesterday's hearing that his client has spent time in jail because of this case and had been under house for six months and had been subjected to public scrutiny because of his fame. He is the son of the late general and political figure Moshe Dayan.

Financial straits

Dayan's lawyer noted his client has been admitted to psychiatric hospitals on a number of occasions, most recently days ago; that he is in difficult financial straits, relying on his mother for funding; and that the acts in question resulted from addiction to Ritalin.

At the hearing, Dayan expressed remorse for attacking the woman and said he wanted to work off his debt to his mother and said after the hearing he was working on a new TV series.