Man charged with hammering wife to death over TV interruption
Moisei Beiniashvilli of Bat Yam beat wife Malka for disturbing him during televised tennis match, court told
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
A 76-year-old man from the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam was charged on Thursday with murdering his wife with a hammer for disturbing him while he was watching a tennis match on television.
Prosecutors told The Tel Aviv district court that the incident happened while Moisei Beiniashvilli was watching the Australian Open tennis tournament on TV on January 31, and his wife Malka disturbed him at a critical moment in the game, Channel 2 News reported.
He went to the kitchen, took a wooden chopping board, and beat her over the head with it several times, close to an open window in the couple’s apartment.
Passersby and neighbors who heard the wife’s screams alerted police and shouted at Beiniashvilli to stop, in vain.
At some point, Malka managed to wrest the chopping board from her husband and throw it out of the window, whereupon he seized a hammer and hit her hard on the head, Channel 2 said.
Beiniashvilli was arrested when police entered the apartment, the court heard. The Magen David ambulance service gave Malka initial treatment but she died of her wounds three days later in a Tel Aviv hospital.
The prosecution is seeking to deny Beiniashvilli bail.
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