Father sentenced to over 20 years for rape, sexual assault against toddler daughter, then-wife

BySARAH BEN-NUNJULY 19, 2026 18:10Warning: This article contains content that may be disturbing to some readers.The Central District Court in Lod sentenced a man to 20 years and three months in prison on Sunday for committing acts of rape and sexual assault against his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, as well as raping his then-wife while she slept.The court sentenced him to 20 years for the offenses in the current case and ordered the consecutive activation of a three-month suspended sentence imposed in an earlier case in which he was convicted of assaulting and threatening the same woman.The panel - Deputy Court President Ami Kobo and judges Merav Grinberg and Efrat Fink - also ordered him to pay NIS 150,000 in compensation: NIS 100,000 to his former wife and NIS 50,000 to their daughter.“The case before us is exceptionally severe, even compared with other serious incest cases considered in case law,” the judges wrote.The offenses against the girl were uncovered after her mother began to suspect that the defendant was sexually abusing her and installed hidden cameras in her home that could be monitored remotely.Israel Police car (credit: YOSSI ALONI/MAARIV)The mother then arranged for the defendant to watch the child while she left the house. The cameras recorded him repeatedly committing sexual offenses against the girl while distracting her with his phone.Mother's resourcefulness, courage led to conviction of defendantThe court emphasized that the mother’s decision to create and monitor the situation did not place any responsibility on her or diminish the defendant’s responsibility for his actions. The judges later praised her “resourcefulness and great courage,” saying that her actions brought the offenses to an immediate end and prevented further harm to the child.The defendant admitted the offenses against his daughter that were captured on camera at the beginning of the evidentiary stage of the trial.He denied raping his former wife, but was convicted following a trial in which the court found her testimony credible and convincing and supported by corroborating evidence. The judges found the defendant’s testimony unreliable.The court acquitted him of additional alleged indecent acts against the child that preceded the recorded offenses, finding that they had not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. He was also acquitted of further alleged incidents involving his former wife that the prosecution failed to prove to the required criminal standard.The three rapes of his wife took place between 2017 and 2019, while the couple was married. In each case, the defendant assaulted her while she was asleep. She awoke during the incidents and repeatedly confronted him and told him not to perform sexual acts on her without her permission.The court said that sexual offenses committed within an intimate relationship were especially serious because they violated the trust and closeness on which such relationships were based.“A woman’s right to autonomy over her body is not weakened in a relationship,” the judges wrote.Prosecution requested defendant be sentenced to 30 years in prisonThe prosecution asked the court to impose a total sentence of 30 years, arguing that the defendant’s admission concerning his daughter came only after he was confronted with unequivocal video evidence and that he had continued to deny and avoid responsibility for the offenses against his former wife.The defense asked for a six-year sentence, arguing that the defendant had accepted responsibility for the offenses involving his daughter, expressed remorse, and was willing to undergo treatment.The court set a sentencing range of 13 to 18 years for the offenses against the child and six to 10 years for the offenses against his wife. It rejected the defense’s request to depart from those ranges on rehabilitative grounds, noting that the defendant had not undergone treatment or a comprehensive sexual-risk assessment and continued to deny the offenses against his former wife.His previous criminal record included a 2023 conviction for assaulting and threatening the same woman. The three-month suspended sentence imposed in that case was activated consecutively, bringing his total sentence to 20 years and three months.Prosecutors said the lengthy sentence reflected the “extreme severity” of the offenses and the enormous harm the defendant had caused both victims.Follow us on Google