Court Hears Harrowing Details of Child's Captivity in Shelter

The Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court extended the detention of Yigal Buskila, a 19-year-old Jerusalem resident suspected of abducting 10-year-old Yaheli Sofer, for the fifth time since the investigation began. During the hearing, disturbing new details emerged about the hours the child spent held captive in a shelter, with a police representative describing what the boy endured and updating the court on progress in the investigation and legal proceedings coordinated with the prosecution.

According to police testimony in court, Yaheli cried while being held in the shelter and repeatedly asked to be released. During the ordeal, the child laid his head on the suspect and wept, while attempting to escape from the location but being prevented from leaving by Buskila, who blocked his exit, Ynet reported.

Police officials noted that the suspect does not deny the allegations against him, and that the case is being carefully reviewed by two prosecutors who have issued clear directives for completing the investigation, both regarding the central kidnapping incident and concerning additional cases being examined in connection with it.

At the same time, police acknowledged that despite the release of Buskila's name and photograph for publication over the past weekend, no new complaints or reports have been received beyond the three central complaints on which the entire investigation has been based thus far. The court had authorized publication of the suspect's identity in hopes that additional victims who have not yet filed complaints might come forward.

During the hearing, the suspect's public defender, Attorney Noam Gutman, requested that the court take into account her client's complex mental state and order his release to house arrest under his mother's supervision. The defense attorney argued that her client is dealing with mental health challenges and is not an ordinary young man, emphasizing that the mother had traveled specially from Jerusalem to court and was prepared to take full responsibility for updating authorities and monitoring him.

In response, Judge Oren Boaz directed sharp, pointed questions at the mother, seeking to understand how she could guarantee effective supervision in practice, particularly given that he has not been living at home for an extended period, only comes home once every few weeks to ask for money, and even admitted to her that he sleeps in various shelters. The mother replied that she and her husband, together with their older sons, are able and willing to watch over him, but the judge rejected the house arrest request and ruled that despite the fact that a certain investigative action is no longer susceptible to interference, the circumstances of the case do not permit his release at this stage.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Boaz granted only part of the police request and extended Buskila's detention for three additional days, until Wednesday, rather than until Friday as demanded by the investigating unit. Simultaneously, the judge conveyed an unambiguous message to prosecution representatives and declared that at the next hearing he expects police to advance to the next stage and present the court with an official prosecutor's statement or alternatively a full indictment accompanied by a request for detention until the end of proceedings.

Yaheli provided investigators with new details about the incident that did not emerge in his initial questioning, describing how the suspect led him into a closed shelter and how he managed to escape. The incident ended when an alert citizen identified the child wandering the streets of Bnei Brak and summoned police forces.