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Last update - 20:26 06/05/2008 TA court sentences 'DNA Rapist' to 25 years in prison By Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service Tags: Tel Aviv, DNA Rapist, rape Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday sentenced Eitan Farhi, known to police as the "DNA Rapist," to 25 years in prison for raping and sodomizing two women over the course of two years. The first rape involves a 20-year-old woman from Tel Aviv who had left her apartment to take out the trash. The second victim was a 16-year-old girl who was attacked while walking home from a youth group activity in Rehovot. Farhi, 40, was also convicted of public indecent assault, rape by aggravated assault, acts of sodomy, suborning perjury, robbery and attacking a police officer. The attacks occurred in the center of the country, but he was convicted on account of a DNA sample that he gave to police after being questioned for the 2006 murder of Anat Pleiner, a lawyer from Ramat Hasharon. Advertisement Throughout the trial, Farhi's defense attorneys, Amikam Hadar and Hedva Shapira, argued against the case's legality, pointing out that the evidence being used against their client was obtained in an unjust manner. They claim that the DNA sample Farhi gave them in the framework of a murder trial has since been held by the police illegally. Farhi's defense lawyers argued that it was illegal to compare the DNA sample given as evidence in an unrelated murder trial with the sperm found in the rape crime scenes, and to use such evidence to convict their client of rape. However, the judges ruled "the public interest will decide this matter" and therefore "it is necessary to reject the claim of the defendant regarding the unfair evidence used to accuse him". The judges said that courts who do not admit evidence obtained illegally would in this instance make an exception and accept the evidence. Farhi was charged with four counts of sexual assault detailing acts committed in Herziliya, Tel Aviv, Rehovot, and in Gedera. According to the indictment, Farhi sexually assaulted a Tel Aviv woman, 20. While impersonating a police officer, he forced her to perform oral sex on him. He also attacked and raped a 16 year old girl in a wooded area in the city of Rehovot. "If we would accede to the defendant's requests in every case, it would mean that someone who allegedly committed serious crimes and significantly endangers others, especially women incapable of being rescued, would be free to roam around and commit more atrocious acts, similar to those he has previously committed," the judges also ruled. After Pleiner's murder in April 2006, there was a match found between the sperm samples taken from a number of crime scenes and the DNA sample which Eitan Farhi provided at the request of detectives. Almost three months later, the head of the police's DNA Reserves, Ashira Zamir, began to check the samples that were collected in three different crime scenes in which two rapes and one sexual assault had occurred. In a letter to her supervisor, Zamir wrote that she was surprised to discover that she recognized the DNA samples. Zamir initiated a new investigation, separate from the murder case of Einat Pleiner, and found that there was a match between the DNA samples found at the crime scenes and the DNA sample that Farhi, a Herziliya resident, had submitted to detectives. Related articles: Fugitive Israeli rapist caught in Ukraine with forged passport Video footage leads to indictment of 3 kibbutzniks for rape Police arrest Nazareth man, 17, suspected of attempted rape Bookmark to del.icio.us   Fear of extinction The state of over 20 species of birds in Israel has worsened considerably. Taking advantage Jerusalem police probe possible gang rape of disabled woman.   1.   he should be stoned to death... 21:17  |  Nigel 06/05/08   2.   Rapist should be sent to Lornena Bobbit 00:51  |  Secular 07/05/08   3.   What about the murder case? 01:22  |  Dror 07/05/08   4.   but hay folks Katsavs still on the loose 22:23  |  sj 07/05/08   5.   Another step in the right direction .. 00:45  |  SA 15/05/08   6.   2#no they should be sent to 00:58  |  Alon The Israeli 21/05/08

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