Tel Aviv rape indictment names Adam Yassin, 42, a supervised sex offender

Israeli prosecutors have filed an indictment against Adam Yassin, a 42-year-old resident of East Jerusalem with previous sex offence convictions, accusing him of following a young woman home from a Tel Aviv nightclub and raping her in her apartment. Ynet reported that Yassin is a supervised sex offender and that, according to the charges, he went back to the woman's home roughly two weeks after the first attack.

N12 reported that the case was filed with the Tel Aviv District Court. According to the indictment as described by N12, on his return to the apartment Yassin intended to rape the woman again and committed an indecent act against her before she managed to drive him out. N12 also reported that the charges say both incidents took place while Yassin was subject to supervision orders issued under Israel's law on protecting the public from sex offences.

What the charges allege

The accounts from the two news organisations broadly match. N12 summarised the indictment as alleging that Yassin tracked the woman, got into her apartment and raped her. Ynet described the entry as a break-in, and said the woman had been leaving a club in Tel Aviv when he began following her. A Ynet alert issued shortly after its main report repeated that a charge sheet had been lodged against the sex offender who broke into the young woman's home.

The second incident, about two weeks later, is described by N12 as an attempt that ended in an indecent act rather than a completed rape, because the woman forced him to leave. Neither outlet reported how she did so or whether anyone else was present.

His previous record

Ynet reported that Yassin has a history of sexual offences. According to its report, he previously sexually assaulted a girl after collecting her from her home, and also assaulted a woman who was a patient in a hospital. The reports do not give the dates of those offences, the sentences he received or when he was released.

How sex offender supervision works in Israel

The term Ynet uses for Yassin, often rendered in English as a supervised sex offender, refers to a person whom a court has placed under monitoring after conviction for sexual offences. The law N12 cites, the Law for the Protection of the Public from Sex Offences, allows Israeli courts to impose supervision orders on offenders judged to pose a continuing risk, with conditions intended to limit that risk once they are back in the community. The allegation that Yassin committed both attacks while those orders were in force is likely to draw attention to how his supervision was carried out, though neither report says anything about the conditions he was under or who was responsible for monitoring him.

The prosecution and the court

Indictments in Israel are filed by the State Attorney's Office, the national prosecution service within the Justice Ministry, which decides whether evidence gathered by the police is strong enough to bring charges. Serious crimes such as rape are heard in the district courts, which sit above the magistrates' courts and handle the most severe criminal cases at first instance. The Tel Aviv District Court will now hear the case.

An indictment is a formal statement of the charges prosecutors intend to prove. It is not a finding of guilt, and the allegations described here have not yet been tested in court.

What the reports do not say

Neither Ynet nor N12 reported any response from Yassin or a defence lawyer, or whether he has entered a plea. The reports do not give the dates of the alleged attacks, the specific offences listed in the indictment, or whether prosecutors have asked for him to be held in custody until the end of proceedings. They also do not explain how he was able to follow and enter the woman's home while under supervision, or whether the authorities overseeing his orders have commented.