Cigarette craving teens stab man, steal NIS 20

Two Beit Shemesh teens were arrested Thursday for allegedly assaulting an elderly man, stabbing him in the back and chest, and robbing him of a NIS 20 bill ($5.68). The suspects, aged 19 and 14, were detained by police and brought in for questioning at the local police station.

The man, who suffered moderate injuries, was rushed to the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

According to police investigators, the two claimed they had run out of cigarettes and decided to attack the 67-year-old man to obtain additional smokes.

“The boys came up to me and asked me for cigarettes,” the elderly man told Ynet. “I said I had none but they insisted. I gave them money so that they would leave me alone, and then one of them pulled out a knife and stabbed me in the back and chest,” he said.

The young assailants both had criminal records and had both been involved in violent crimes in the past, Ynet reported.

The detainees are expected to be brought to the Jerusalem Magistrates Court for a hearing aimed at extending their remand.