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Haifa `stairwell rapist' arrested
By David Ratner
July 22, 2004
Haifa police announced yesteday the arrest of the "stairwell rapist," a Haifa
man suspected of raping three women in the last two months. They say had DNA
testing been speedier, he would have been caught after the first attack.
The suspect, Igor Antapika, a 24-year-old immigrant from the former Soviet
Union, was arrested Wednesday night, but police did not release the information
for publication until yesterday morning. His remand was extended yesterday by
10 days.
The suspect is accused of attacking a 19-year-old woman in Haifa's Hadar
neighborhood on June 19, a 39-year-old in the northern city's Neveh Sha'anan
neighborhood on June 26, and a 17-year-old in Carmel Center on July 11.
All were walking on or dragged to stairwells between streets after 3 A.M. while
walking home when assaulted, leading police to dub the suspect the "stairwell
rapist."
Calls poured in to the police in the last two weeks in response to a Identikit
sketch police released publicly to help locate the rapist. Last week, police
called on Haifa women to be careful and avoid walking alone at night.
The suspect, who lives in Haifa's Hadar neighborhood with his parents,
previously served 18 months in jail for robbing a woman.
Database could have saved two victims
Haifa police chief Nir Mariash told a press conference yesterday morning that
police immediately grew suspicious when they heard the similarities between the
first two rape cases, and began investigating the possibility that there was a
serial rapist in Haifa. The third rape victim provided police with a fairly
accurate sketch of the suspect, which was released this week.
Meanwhile, DNA tests conducted on the victims confirmed that one man had
attacked all three, but police DNA databases were limited, so they could not
compare the information to former sex offenders and find a match.
After the third woman was raped, a team of detectives was formed that used the
information from the sketch and DNA data along with information on previous sex
offenders and criminals in the area. A police psychologist defined the rapist's
actions as highly violent.
Following the publication of the sketch, police received dozens of reports on
the rapist from various organizations and persons. Mariash said reports were
coming in from all over the country, even the Russian Embassy called to say
they had spotted the suspect at an Israeli branch of the Russian Orthodox
church. The data was compared by a computer system, leading investigators to
Antapika.
Shortly after Antapika immigrated to Israel, he was sent to jail for one count
of assault and another of robbery in Haifa, and was released in December 2003.
Antapika was summoned for questioning on July 14 along with 25 other suspects.
Samples of his saliva were taken for evidence and one week later, the
laboratory announced that his DNA matched the samples found at the scene of the
crime. Antapika was immediately arrested and during questioning admitted he had
raped the three women.
A investigations officer at Haifa police, Benny Avliyah, said if the police had
a computerized database of sex offenders, they would not have had to wait a
week for the results, and could have caught the suspect after the first victim
had filed her complaint.
Police are also investigating cases of sexual harassment which didn't end in
rape, following a pattern of women who were attacked alone in stairwells.
Police think Antapika may be behind these cases, as well as four cases of
assault. They also thanked the media for their contribution in publicizing the
sketch, and said the reports were a great help in catching the suspect.
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