Mental patient allegedly strangles fellow patient to death

A mental patient at a psychiatric facility near Hadera strangled a fellow patient to death yesterday, according to local police.

The 41-year-old suspect was put in solitary confinement at Sha'ar Menashe hospital, the Health Ministry's chief psychiatrist, Dr. Yaakov Polakovich, told Haaretz. The Hadera Magistrate's Court remanded him yesterday for another 15 days, to prison conditions.

The alleged attacker is believed to have strangled the victim with a towel. The victim, 67, died yesterday afternoon, several hours after the incident.

A Health Ministry official said the suspect had been allowed to be with other patients because he displayed no signs of violent behavior. But Sha'ar Menashe's spokesman told Haaretz that he had been put in a special ward in the hospital for especially violent patients.

"Violence occurs in that wing not only among the patients. Cases of patients also attacking staff are also more common in that wing," said facility's spokesperson, Shlomo Kagansky. He added that the hospital has set up a team to investigate the incident.

Hadera police chief Eli Crispil said the victim was taken in serious condition to Hillel Yaffeh Medical Center in the city, where he died.

Hadera police later arrested the suspect, and collected depositions from him, other patients and mental-hospital staffers.

Officer Crispil said a preliminary investigation did not indicate that the staff was criminally responsible for the incident.