Court to hear new testimony in Tair Rada murder case

More than two years after the conviction of Roman Zadorov in the murder of teenager Tair Rada in Katzrin in 2006, the case is now due to be reopened.

At a Supreme Court appeal hearing on Monday, judges instructed that the case be returned to the Nazareth District Court for review in order to hear two experts’ testimonies related to evidence in the case, as requested by Zadorov’s lawyers. The first witness is William Bodziak, a world-renowned forensics expert, who will testify regarding the footprint found on the clothes of the murdered girl.

Dr. Maya Forman-Reznik, a pathologist, will also testify about the murder weapon and the trauma injuries found on her head.

Zadorov’s lawyers filed the appeal last November, requesting permission to submit new evidence in the case, a move opposed by the state prosecutor.

The Supreme Court judges were convinced that their unusual step was warranted at this stage in the appeal process, and that a return of the case to the district court was necessary in order to hear the two testimonies, according to Israel Radio. The district court will examine the impact of the testimonies on the list of evidence and on the conviction.

The gruesome murder rocked the country in 2006 when Rada was found dead in a stall in her school’s lavatory. The eighth grade student was found with slashes to her neck, stab wounds across her body, and severe blows to her head.

At the time, Zadorov worked as a maintenance man at the school. In 2010, nearly four years after he was first arrested, the Nazareth District Court gave him a life sentence for the murder.

Even though Zadorov had initially confessed and provided a reenactment of the murder, he later recanted and has since maintained his innocence.