3 Minors Suspected of Beating 13-year-old in Rehovot

"Police have arrested three minors, aged 15 and 16, on suspicion of randomly attacking a 13-year-old boy at a bar-mitzvah party in Kiryat Ekron, near Rehovot, on Thursday night. The boy, G., was taken to Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot where he was hospitalized with damage to his kidney and severe swelling in different parts of his body.

"This is total madness. Even the doctors told us it was a miracle that he came out alive," his mother said yesterday.

One of the policemen who investigated the case said: "This was a lynch."

G. had attended the bar mitzvah of a classmate at the local community center on Thursday. His mother said he was driven there by a parent and that he spoke to her several times by cell phone during the evening. Shortly before 11 P.M., G. and a classmate went to the bathroom. According to their testimony, they encountered a group of youths sitting in the entrance, "smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol."

According to G., the older youths called them over. He said there were eight new immigrants from Ethiopia, and he and his friend did not know them so they ignored them. The youths allegedly walked across to G. and beat him up. They kicked him and hit him with their fists and one allegedly broke a bottle over his head.

G.'s friend managed to run away and called G.'s family from his cell phone.

The suspects were detained by police on Friday and a Rehovot Magistrate's Court judge remanded them for five days beginning over the weekend. One of the youths reportedly told police he had acted violently because he had had too much to drink. Police are searching for further suspects."

Source: Yuval Azulay. 3 minors suspected of beating 13-year-old. Haaretz.com [6 June 2005) [