A 16-year-old teen is set to be indicted for the murder of a convicted sex offender, police said Sunday, adding the teen described his actions in writing, stating that he had “wanted to murder a pedophile.”
The suspect will be tried for stabbing and killing Haim Wizman, who had been convicted of sexual offenses against minors in the past.
The body of Wizman, 42, was found last month in his home in central Israel by another teen, under 16 years of age, who told the police that he was invited to Wizman’s home for sex. In 2009, Wizman was convicted of indecent acts against two minors in the street. After his release from jail he was under supervision for six years, during which he did not violate the conditions of his parole. From then on, Wizman was living unsupervised and without restrictions.
The suspect, a Netnaya resident with no criminal past, was arrested eight days after the body was discovered. At first he denied any connection to the murder but subsequently claimed self-defense.
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He said that he had met Wizman on the internet about a month before and had agreed to meet him at his home, where he stabbed him. The police rejected the suspect’s version of events due to the fact that he had arrived at Wizman’s home with the knife, because of the numerous stab wounds on Wizman’s body and due to evidence of attempted arson which was found in the house.
According to a source familiar with the details of the investigation, the suspect wrote that he was “doing a good deed in the world by murdering a pedophile.”
The investigation brought to light correspondence between the two, in which Wizman wrote the suspect that he was too young and it “wouldn’t work” between them. The suspect was seen on a security camera arriving at Wizman’s residence with him, and leaving about a half an hour later.
The suspect has been in custody for 20 days since his arrest – the maximum allowed for the extension of detention for a minor without authorization from the attorney general and without the filing of an indictment.
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