State prosecutors filed an indictment Monday in Jerusalem District Court against Liel Ifergan, 26, of Beit Shemesh, charging him with murder under aggravated circumstances and attempted murder. According to the charges, he stabbed two young cousins as they played in a backyard pool, killing seven-year-old Hillel Mordechai Dadon z"l and severely wounding the second boy.
The indictment, filed by attorney Yael Igra of the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office, describes how last month, during afternoon hours, the two children were playing in an inflatable pool set up in a residential courtyard.
Ifaegan allegedly ran out of the nearby housing unit where he lived, armed with a knife. He entered the yard, approached the pool, and stabbed Hillel in the chest and his cousin in the neck, with intent to kill both children.
After the stabbings, the indictment states, Ifergan fled back to his housing unit and cleaned the blood from the knife.
The stab wound caused severe chest trauma to Hillel, leading to his death. His cousin suffered a neck wound and active bleeding. He was rushed to surgery, sedated and placed on a ventilator, and remained hospitalized for three days.
The indictment charges Ifargan with premeditated murder under aggravated circumstances, attempted murder, and severe assault under aggravated circumstances. Alongside filing the charges, prosecutors requested the court order his detention until the conclusion of legal proceedings.
"We share in the profound grief of the family of Hillel Mordechai Dadon z"l and pray for the full recovery of his cousin," the prosecutor's office stated. "It is difficult to grasp the gap between the innocent play of two children in a pool and the defendant's decision to arm himself with a knife and take their lives."
The statement continued: "The indictment filed today reflects the exceptional severity of the acts attributed to the defendant and the grave and irreversible outcome to which they led."
