Police find 5-year-old girl chained to shower door in Lod apartment
Officers break into home after neighbors report persistent crying; girl hospitalized in moderate condition with signs of abuse and neglect; parents arrested
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Called to an apartment in the central Israeli city of Lod on Monday after neighbors heard persistent crying, police found a five-year-old girl chained to a shower door and showing signs of severe neglect.
Officers who broke down the front door found the girl alone in the apartment, police said.
She was rushed to the nearby Assaf Harofeh hospital, where doctors said she was in moderate but stable condition.
Police have arrested the girl’s parents, aged 36 and 41, on suspicion of longstanding abuse and neglect. They will be brought before a court Tuesday for a remand hearing.
The hospital said it plans to admit the girl for care and observation.
The Ynet news site reported that the parents and three other children had gone out of the apartment, leaving the girl behind for an unspecified reason.
A lawyer representing the parents denied they had chained her to the shower door, telling Ynet they had left her sleeping in her bed.
They claimed that a neighbor called them a few hours later to say there were shouts coming from their apartment. “They are completely normal parents who would never do what they have been accused of,” the lawyer said.
The Times of Israel Community.