‘New evidence’ emerges in rape case of young girl

A lawyer representing the family of the 7-year-old Israeli girl allegedly raped by a Palestinian maintenance custodian says the young girl was summoned earlier today by police to provide additional testimony as new evidence was discovered by investigators.

The suspect, Mahmoud Qadusa, is slated to appear before the Ofer Military Court for a remand hearing tomorrow morning. Last week, a law enforcement official said police were prepared to drop the charges against the 46-year-old Palestinian if new evidence did not come to light.

Earlier Monday, Qadusa’s lawyer said that the military prosecution informed him that it had no intention of dropping the case against his client despite a slew of reported missteps throughout the police investigation.

Police arrested Palestinian school maintenance worker Qadusa on May 1 on suspicion that he had kidnapped the ultra-Orthodox girl from a school in a central West Bank settlement and raped her. He has been in jail since, but questions have been raised about the strength of the case and the reliability of the testimony of the victim. No other witnesses have come forward.

The case, which was made public at the beginning of last week, provoked public outrage and calls from right-wing politicians that the suspect be investigated on terror charges, with some demanding that he be executed.

While unofficial statements from law enforcement figures have pointed to the case possibly falling apart, there have been few public statements on the status of the case beyond the announcement of the indictment on Sunday and a statement days later that police were being tasked with reopening the investigation and shoring up evidence.

— Jacob Magid