Arafat Irfaiya, who has confessed to killing Ori Ansbacher, 19, in February of this year has been deemed fit to stand trial following a psychiatric evaluation conducted at the request of his defense team.
The next hearing in Irfaiya's case is slated to be held at the Jerusalem District Court in June, at which point the Public Defender's Office will present its response to the indictment, which included counts of committing a terrorist act in the form of premeditated murder; rape; and entering Israel without a permit.
According to the description in the indictment of the crime, Ansbacher, 19, who was performing her national service at a center for youth at risk in the Ein Yael area of Jerusalem, entered the forested area around the center late on the morning of Feb. 7, carrying a pad of paper. Irfaiya approached the area, carrying a knife. He saw Ansbacher, identified her as Jewish, and decided to kill her.
The indictment states that Ansbacher tried to fight off her attacker, but he overcame her, assaulted her, and stabbed her a number of times using the knife he had on his person. Ansbacher died as a result of her stab wounds.
During the remand hearing in February, District Attorney Yuval Kadar laid out the evidence against Irfaiya.
"The evidentiary material includes DNA samples from the scene of the crime; the knife used in the murder, which was found where the terrorist was hiding – which bore bloodstains of the murder victim – as well as the victim's SIM card, which was discovered in his [Irfaiya's] bag along with her cellphone, which was recovered from a nearby ditch. The killer was also able to recount details that only someone who had been at the scene would know – for example, that the victim arrived with headphones and a notebook."
Irfaiya recreated the attack for investigators. He told them that he had killed Ansbacher out of ethno-religious motives.
Irfaiya also revealed that a few weeks before he killed Ansbacher, he had made a decision to murder a Jew. He said that he had purchased a kippa to help him carry out his plan. The kippa was later found in his pants pocket.
He then told investigators he attacked Ansbacher and stabbed her three times, then dragged her a distance of about 150 meters (500 feet). Ansbacher tried to fight him off and screamed, but no one was close enough to hear her.
According to Irfaiya, he then stabbed her a few more times, used her scarf to gag her, and tied her hands together using a belt. He raped her and then took her phone away and began to make his escape. Irfaiya took a taxi back to the Palestinian Authority, where he was eventually captured by police special forces.
