Herzliya woman charged with aggravated murder of 6-year-old son
Prosecutors say Sigal Yana Itzkovich, 33, was alone at home with son Liam in July when she took a kitchen knife, stabbed her dog, and then stabbed her son repeatedly
Prosecutors filed an indictment against Sigal Yana Itzkovich, 33, on Friday to the Tel Aviv District Court, charging her with aggravated murder for the killing of her 6-year-old son Liam in Herzliya on July 16.
Charges were also submitted relating to aggravated assault, killing an animal, and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors also asked the court to detain Itzkovich until legal proceedings against her are complete.
According to prosecutors, Itzkovich was alone with her son when she took a kitchen knife, stabbed her dog, and then stabbed her son dozens of times in the bathtub, killing him.
The intensity of the attack broke the knife, and left a tip of the blade in her son’s skull, prosecutors said.
Itzkovich then returned to kill the dog with a knife and axe, after hearing its wailing, the statement said.
The accused allegedly washed the knife, changed clothes, and then walked toward the Seven Stars Mall in Herzliya, still covered in blood. On her way, she attacked a passerby and drove her axe into the hood of a car. Arriving at the mall, she attacked a security guard who eventually subdued her.
In a video disseminated on social media, Itzkovich could be seen walking toward the entrance of the mall while holding an axe and intermittently grinning. She is barefoot, and her face and legs are streaked with blood.
She approaches the security guard at the mall and begins attacking him with the axe, but he manages to wrest it away from her and call for backup.
הרצליה קניון שבעת הכוכבים:
אישה כנראה בהתקף פסיכוטי רדפה אחר מאבטח עם גרזן, דקרה אותו, לאחר מכן הלכה לכניסה לקניון התפשטה עשתה מדיטציה ודקרה את עצמה בחזה.. pic.twitter.com/afXN3ynCko— מה חדש. What's new❓ (@Gloz111) July 16, 2024
In July, a court-ordered psychiatric assessment of Itzkovich, who reportedly told investigators she murdered her son because she heard alien voices, was unable to determine unequivocally whether she is fit to stand trial.
The district psychiatrist was said to recommend a more in-depth assessment under hospitalization after an indictment was filed.
Reports said that during police questioning Itzkovich claimed that she took drugs and drank nail polish before killing her son, an act that she was said to have confessed to. Itzkovich reportedly told police that she heard aliens who told her that, in cooperation with the CIA, they had planted a chip in her body causing her to commit the murder. She was said to have expressed remorse for the killing while asserting that she was unaware of her actions at the time.
The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court initially rejected a request by Itzkovich’s attorney, Benjamin Malka, that she be assessed for fitness to stand trial and instructed only that the review determine whether she was fit to be held in police custody.
Liam’s body was discovered in the family’s home by his grandmother. His father was serving as a reserve soldier in the Gaza Strip at the time of the killing. Though the family was not known to welfare services, there was reportedly an incident of violence in the past that was resolved by police.
Authorities have refuted rumors that Itzkovich was a survivor of the Supernova music massacre, where invading terrorists led by Hamas killed 364 people on October 7 as part of the Palestinian terror group’s devastating attack on Israel that precipitated the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
The Times of Israel Community.