ISRAEL: Israeli court finds mother and grandfather guilty of killing a four-year old girl and dumping her body in a river in Tel Aviv three years ago

Record ID: 401101

  • Title: ISRAEL: Israeli court finds mother and grandfather guilty of killing a four-year old girl and dumping her body in a river in Tel Aviv three years ago
  • Date: 20th May 2011
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (FILE) (REUTERS) POLICE AND DIVERS PULLING SUITCASE WITH ROSE'S BODY FROM RIVER WHERE IT WAS FOUND INVESTIGATORS LOOKING INTO SUITCASE AND BACKING AWAY FORENSIC INVESTIGATORS OPENING CASE OF EQUIPMENT MORE OF SCENE
  • Embargoed: 4th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel, Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVA7KFSVCP46XESTXYEDA1BZCKBL
  • Story Text: An Israeli court on Thursday (May 19) convicted a mother and grandfather over the murder four-year-old Rose Pizem, whose body was discovered in 2008, hidden in a suitcase at the bottom of a Tel Aviv river.
    Rose, who was born in Paris, disappeared in May 2008 prompting a massive search. Her body was not discovered until the following September when divers trawled the Yarkon River.
    On Thursday, a district court found the grandfather, Ronny Ron guilty of murder and Rose's mother, Marie-Charlotte Renault guilty of plotting the crime, according to the court's ruling.
    "Our expectation was for conviction of a crime that does not include killing," Lawyer Revital Sweid, who represents Marie-Charlotte Renault, told Reuters.
    "I believe that we will appeal the actual murder conviction because the event itself in which the police did not know what was happening and just the slap itself would constitute manslaughter and not murder," said lawyer Gil Freedman who represents Ronny Ron, Rose's grandfather.
    Both face possible life sentences.
    "It was very clear from the evidence though circumstantial evidence that this murder both of the defendants took part, the grandfather and the mother," said Ana Avidov, Deputy to the District Attorney and in charge of criminal cases.
    Police investigators at the time said Ron's son and Rose's mother married as teenagers in France after their daughter was born. The couple visited Israel, where the mother fell in love with her Israeli father-in-law and moved in with him.
    The father returned to France with Rose, but her mother won a French court order for the girl to live with her and the grandfather in Israel.
    The case shocked Israel and touched off a national debate on child abuse.
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