A psychiatric opinion received today (Sunday) by the attorney's office states that Sigal Itzkovitz, who is accused of murdering her son, is fit to stand trial. It also emerged that she was under a psychotic attack in the incident, and now the decision whether to hold a trial or not - will come to the door of the court.
This morning the hearing on the matter was held in court. Siegel Itzkovitz's defense attorney, lawyer Binyamin Malka, said at the hearing to extend the detention until the end of the proceedings that he is seeking to limit her detention since an opinion was received that although she understands the nature of the legal proceedings, she was in a psychotic state at the time of the case and he will uphold her acquittal in the main proceedings.
At another hearing that took place in Itzkovits's case, Attorney Malka asked to adopt the opinion and order her credit. Judge Yaron Levy, who heard the main case, gave the prosecutor's office one month to formulate its position on whether they accept the opinion.
The prosecutor's office requests that her detention be extended until the end of the proceedings. According to them, the opinion did not refer to special conditions in terms of detention. The opinion is very long and detailed, says the prosecutor's office, and we need to study it.
Judge Alaa Masarawa said that there is no reference in the opinion to where the mother will be detained under hospitalization conditions or in the detention center, therefore he asked for clarification from the district psychiatrist and extended her detention by a month. The indictment against Itzkowitz for the murder of her 6-year-old son Liam and her dog Buffy was filed in August. The serious indictment states that on July 16, the mother was alone with her minor son in her home in Herzliya, and around three o'clock she took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her dog. After that, Itzkovitz went to the bathroom where her minor son was staying, stabbed him dozens of times in all parts of his body - until the blade broke.
According to the indictment, after murdering her son, Itzkowitz left the bathroom and heard the howls of the wounded dog in the living room. Fearing that neighbors and passers-by would hear the howling, she closed the shutter, went out into the garden and killed the dog as well.
After that, Itzkovitz left her house while holding an ax and walked covered in blood towards the "Seven Stars" mall in Herzliya. On her way to the mall she attacked the hood of a car with an ax while the driver was inside. Itzkovits attacked the mall security guard, who struggled with her for many seconds in an attempt to take the cold weapon from her. The security guard suffered a fracture and a cut on his left hand.
Liam's grandmother found his body in an apartment on Galil Yam Street in the city with severe signs of violence along with the dog's body.
When Itzkovits was brought by Tel Aviv police investigators to the scene of the incident for reconstruction, she lost her temper and began to rage and confront the investigators. The reconstruction was stopped before it was finished, but the investigators managed to record part of it.
During one of the detention extension hearings, Itzkovitz regretted her actions and burst into tears. "I apologize for the abominable act," she said. "The late Liam's father harassed me financially, he was a narcissist and did not allow me to go to work, he was the only one who brought money," she added.
Itzkowitz said in her investigation that she took drugs and drank nail polish before the act, and that she heard voices of extra-terrestrials and aliens who told her that the CIA put a chip in her body and they made her commit the murder.
