11 found guilty in Eilat ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ gang rape of teen

Eleven men and teenagers were found guilty of multiple counts of rape or sexual offenses for involvement in a 2020 Eilat gang rape of a teenage girl, the Beersheba District Court ruled on Wednesday.

Rape ringleader Isi Rafilov, 27 at the time, had stayed at the 16-year-old victim’s hotel without paying, and used the facilities. He came with his friend and fellow Hadera resident Ilizir Meirov, 26. Both men had criminal records, previously serving time in prison. Rafilov met the victim at the hotel pool and asked her out, but she rejected him. 

The girl went to a party at one of the hotel rooms with her friends, where two of the other defendants had been present. The victim drank too much alcohol and became severely intoxicated. Her friend attempted to help her to a bathroom in another room but she collapsed to the floor. Top ArticlesRead More

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Rafilov and Meirov encountered the victim and her friend, and lied by saying that he was trained in first aid and could help her. He convinced her friend to bring the victim to the room that he had broken into, and then told the friend to fetch the teen water and other supplies from a nearby kiosk. When the friend was afraid to leave victim alone, he assured her she had nothing to worry about because he had a sister the same age as the victim. 

Shortly after she left, Rafilov stripped her of her clothes and raped her at least twice. When the victim’s friend returned she panicked and tried to extract the inebriated friend several times to no avail. Rafilov then called in Meirov to rape the girl. When he engaged in the act, Rafilov filmed him without his knowledge.

One of the defendants passed by, saw the incident unfolding, and called others to come see. Most of those that came, teenagers, cheered the rape. Rafilov came out to talk to them, and invited them to rape her as well. 

Twin 17-year-old brothers entered the room with their friend, 19 year-old Noga resident Osher Salma. The twins took turns raping the victim, while Salma observed the event. While the indictment didn’t charge Salma with aiding the rape, the court decided to add the conviction since he was in the room, aiding in the permissive atmosphere.

The other six defendants had not only failed to intervene, but observed and encouraged the others’ actions. The court said that watching the rape itself was an obscene act. The accolades that the rapists received from their peers led the judges to compare the events in the room to “Sodom and Gomorrah.” If there was only one “righteous man in Sodom,” many of the acts could have been stopped.

The defense argued that they had consent

The defendants had argued that the victim, who did not remembers the crime beyond fragments of memory, had consented to the act. The court completely rejected the argument, saying that she was completely unresponsive and incapacitated at the time and unable to provide consent.

“The law sets a clear requirement that sexual contact shall only take place where free consent has been positively expressed, and an obligation is imposed on those who have sexual contact to first verify the existence of free and voluntary consent, in a way that is not ambiguous,” said the ruling.

The court also rejected the idea that the events happened under the fog of an “Eilat atmosphere” in which there was recreation, drinking, and sexual permissiveness. The court said that there is no separate law for Eilat, and that the defendants had tried to minimize their crimes in their testimonies