Court says police can seize car of suspect in disappearance of 9-year-old Haymanut Kasau – report

A court in Nazareth has said police can seize a vehicle that may have been involved in the disappearance of a 9-year-old girl in the northern city of Safed in February, Channel 13 news reports.

Haymanut Kasau, who has since turned 10, was last seen in security footage at 7:45 p.m. on February 25 handing out municipal election leaflets outside a Jewish Agency absorption center where she lived for three years since immigrating with her family from Ethiopia.

According to Channel 13, the vehicle belonging to a suspect in the girl’s disappearance was thought to have been repainted, and two of its wheels were replaced along with its headlights.

The rear door to the car was blocked with external bolts, the outlet says.

The order for the seizure of the car came  after Channel 13 broadcast a new and wide-ranging investigation into the child’s disappearance.

A friend of the child told the outlet that a man had pulled up in a vehicle that day and told the girls to get into his vehicle.

“We were sitting outside the absorption center, and a light blue car pulled up,” the girl’s friend told the outlet.

“The driver told us to get in. We refused. He told us, ‘Get in or I’ll take you.’ He got out of the car, wearing a big hat. He was religious with a beard and couldn’t run, so we ran,” she said.

Kasau is 1.20 meters (3’11”) tall and is slim with dark hair and dark eyes. She was wearing pink pants, a black skirt and a white shirt at the time of her disappearance.