Jewish man who repeatedly kicked a nun in Jerusalem attack is acquitted on mental health grounds and will spend six years in psychiatric hospital
A Jewish man has been acquitted of attacking a Catholic nun in Jerusalem after a court accepted an insanity defence, while ordering him to spend up to six years in a psychiatric hospital. The April assault, in which the nun was pushed to the ground and repeatedly kicked, heightened concern among Christian communities about harassment in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court found there was evidence that the unnamed man, from a West Bank settlement, carried out the attack but was psychotic at the time. The 48-year-old nun suffered severe bruising after the incident outside the Cenacle on Mount Zion; her institution’s director welcomed the hospital order but regretted the absence of a criminal penalty. A religious-freedom monitoring group says incidents targeting Christians in Jerusalem have nearly tripled over four years, reaching roughly one a day in its latest three-month period.
- Attacker acquitted due to psychosis, but faces up to six years’ psychiatric detention.
- Catholic nun was seriously bruised in Jerusalem’s Old City.
- Christian harassment reports in Jerusalem have risen sharply.
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