A Palestinian man indicted earlier this month for raping a seven-year-old girl at her school in the Binyamin region of Judea and Samaria, a case that transfixed Israel, was released from prison on Tuesday morning and the charges against him were dropped.
After Israel Police investigators re-interviewed the victim, Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Sharon Afek made the decision to cancel the indictment against Nazmi Abed el-Hamid Kattousa due to a glaring lack of evidence, and proceed with an investigation to find the culprit.
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"After examining the evidence in the case, the completion of the investigation and the analysis of the investigative actions that are yet to be carried out, the Military Advocate General believes that at this time there is no reasonable chance of convicting Kattousa. Therefore, the MAG decided to walk back from the indictment and allow the Israel Police to continue completing the investigation," the office of the Military Advocate General announced.
Kattousa was originally indicted in mid-June after a three-month investigation. He worked as a janitor at the victim's school and reportedly fostered a relationship with her by occasionally speaking to her and giving her candy.
On the day in question, Kattousa reportedly took the girl by the hand and forcefully led her to a nearby house, where he brutally raped her. After the attack, he released her.
During the investigation, Kattousa denied all charges, putting his word against the girl's testimony.
The police maintained that there was no evidence to support widespread assertions that the attack was carried out from ethno-religious motives – in other words, that a Palestinian had raped a Jewish Israeli girl because of her nationality and religion.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS.
