Beit Shemesh man charged with killing his mother

Prosecutors on Thursday filed an indictment against a 28-year-old man from Beit Shemesh for stabbing his mother to death last month.

Shimon Stern, while at his parent’s home on October 22, approached her while her back was turned, and stabbed her with a knife multiple times for unknown reasons, the indictment read.

The 52-year-old woman fell to the ground, and her son continued to stab her while she lay bleeding to death on the floor, prosecutors charged.

Prosecutors asked the Jerusalem Magistrates’ Court to extend Stern’s remand until the end of legal proceedings.

According to reports, the family involved is part of the city’s large ultra-Orthodox community. The Ynet news site reported that the mother had nine children, some of whom were home at the time of the incident, and one of whom called the police.

“When we arrived at the site, we saw a woman in her 50s who was unconscious, with signs of serious violence,” a Magen David Adom paramedic said at the time. “We gave her medical treatment and performed resuscitation operations. The injuries were very serious and within a short time we had to pronounce her death.”

Neighbors in Beit Shemesh told media outlets that her son had recently been hospitalized in a psychiatric facility.

According to Channel 12 news, the family had moved to Beit Shemesh several months ago after living in the country’s south, and had recently married off a daughter.