Snatched: Missing Ethiopian girl's friend witnessed kidnapping, father says
"A friend of Haymanot's gave an accurate description of a man with sidelocks who grabbed Haymanot, put her on his back, and ran away," Haymanot Kasau's father said.
The father of the 10-year-old girl from Safed Haymanot Kasau, who has been missing since February, told the Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs on Wednesday that a friend of his daughter had been a witness to the kidnapping.
"A friend of Haymanot's gave an accurate description of a man with sidelocks who grabbed Haymanot, put her on his back, and ran away. The same person tried to grab Haymanot's friend as well, but she ran away in time. The girl gave this testimony to the police and her teacher," he said.
However, the police denied such claims. Chief Inspector Wafi Sa'ad told the committee that this claim had been evaluated and rejected. "This indication was checked in real-time, and this direction was ruled out. We investigated the girl's testimony through an interpreter. We did not stop there and even brought in a child investigator who speaks Amharic."
He added that the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) had been involved in the investigation since its first week.
Additional attempted kidnapping
During the discussion, a Police reporter for Channel 13, Yossi Eli, revealed that a few days prior to Kasau's disappearance, an additional attempted kidnapping occurred. "I have a testimony of a girl who claimed that they tried to kidnap her a few days before Haymanot's disappearance. The girl told this testimony to the guard and she decided not to report it to the police. One of the volunteers who heard this testimony called the commander of the Safed station and told him about it. According to Eli, the police treated her with disrespect.
According to him, Kasau's friends provided the police with a facial composite of the suspect.
National Unity MK Pnina Tameno-Shete called on the police to investigate Kasau's friends, who claimed they had witnessed the kidnapping, and conduct an in-depth examination of the facial composite.
Chairman of the committee Oded Forer called on the Aliyah and Integration Ministry to a commission of inquiry into the event.
Kasau's family immigrated from Ethiopia to Israel three years ago. She was last seen in February in Safed's Tzahal Street, when security footage showed her at the entrance of the absorption center where she lived.
Eve Young contributed to this report.
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