State Appeals Light Sentence for Ashkelon Man Convicted of Molesting Minor
The State Attorney's Office has appealed to the Beer Sheva District Court, demanding real prison time instead of community service for Moshe Sandrousi, 60, convicted of indecent acts against a 13-year-old girl.
The State Attorney's Office has filed an appeal with the Beer Sheva District Court against the leniency of the sentence handed down to Moshe Sandrousi, approximately 60, from Ashkelon. Sandrousi was convicted of committing indecent acts against a 13-year-old girl and sentenced to nine months of community service. The prosecution is demanding that he serve actual prison time behind bars.
Sandrousi confessed and was convicted under a plea bargain of committing indecent acts against a minor under the age of 14. According to the indictment, he exploited his acquaintance with the minor, who was a friend of his daughters. When she visited his home, he committed indecent acts on the balcony, including hugging her, touching her body, and kissing her on the lips and neck. He stopped only when her sisters called out to her.
Court Proceedings and Family Reaction
During the sentencing phase at the Ashkelon Magistrate's Court, the prosecution requested actual imprisonment. The victim's mother told the court:
"Children are soft and fragile, they need to feel safe. A punishment must be given so that people around him will not do such a thing."
However, the Magistrate's Court took into account Sandrousi's personal circumstances and his expression of remorse, sentencing him to nine months of community service and a suspended prison sentence.
The Grounds for Appeal
In the appeal, the Southern District Attorney's Office argued that the sentence does not reflect the severity of the acts and must be significantly worsened. The prosecution stated that Sandrousi breached basic trust, exploited the age gap and the minor's innocence, and harmed her well-being, body, dignity, and health.
The appeal states:
"There can be no dispute that the need to protect the bodies and souls of minors from sexual offenses requires an unequivocal, appropriate, and severe punitive message."
Attorney Mazal Menashe Kassahun of the Southern District Attorney's Office added that the current sentence sends the wrong message to victims of crime:
"They muster the courage, complain about what was done to them, their lives are turned upside down instantly, and after all the difficulties they are forced to deal with during the criminal process, they watch the offender escape his appropriate punishment."
