Israel appeals 17-year sentence for man who posed as woman to direct child sex crimes
Alfi was convicted under 11 counts containing numerous offenses, including causing and attempting to cause rape and indecent acts against minors within their families.
The prosecution is now asking the Supreme Court to increase that sentence substantially, arguing that even the lengthy prison term does not reflect the extreme severity of the conduct, the number of offenses and victims, or the danger Alfi continues to pose.
Conviction remains unchanged under appeal
The appeal concerns only his punishment. It does not challenge his conviction, which followed his admission to the allegations in an amended indictment under a plea agreement.
The District Court found that the online nature of the offenses did not reduce their severity. It said Alfi was the driving force behind the abuse, although the fathers physically committed the acts and bore their own responsibility.
The prosecution’s appeal focuses partly on how the court combined the punishment for the different counts.
The District Court set a separate sentencing range for each, reflecting the appropriate punishment for each criminal episode but then establishing an overall range of 17 to 22 years and imposing the lowest sentence within it.
Prosecutors argue that this created excessive overlap between the punishments. The minimum terms set for the individual counts would total 27 years if added together.
The state is not arguing that all the terms must be served consecutively.
It says, however, that the final sentence failed to give sufficient weight to the fact that the offenses occurred separately and involved different victims.
The appeal also challenges the weight given to Alfi’s personal circumstances and rehabilitation prospects.
At sentencing, the defense emphasized his young age, lack of a previous criminal record, guilty plea, military service, difficult personal history, and participation in treatment while in custody. A private expert retained by the defense said Alfi had rehabilitation potential and recommended treatment.
The defense also argued that Alfi did not physically touch the children himself and that a distinction should be drawn between physical and online offenses.
Court says personal circumstances warrant limited consideration
The District Court accepted that Alfi’s personal history had affected his conduct and found that he had some rehabilitation potential. It nevertheless said the private opinion should receive limited weight and that the circumstances described did not significantly reduce his responsibility.
Prosecutors argue that the court ultimately relied too heavily on that opinion when it placed Alfi at the bottom of the sentencing range.
Alfi declined to undergo an assessment by the state probation service, and the defense accepted for sentencing purposes that he posed a high level of sexual danger.
The state further argues that the combination of online deception and sexual abuse within families made the case exceptionally serious and difficult to detect.
Alfi’s use of technology, the systematic nature of the offenses, the material he retained, and his attempts to escalate the abuse required a stronger punishment to protect the public and deter similar crimes, prosecutors said.
Bergen doctor accused of sexually abusing at least four Filipino children
A 66-year-old doctor from Bergen, Noord-Holland, is suspected of sexually abusing at least four Filipino children. The youngest victim was three years old, the prosecutor said on Tuesday in the first pro forma hearing in Den Bosch.
The suspect is accused of raping a girl under 12 years old in the Philippines in 2023. He also allegedly paid two teenage girls to pose and perform sexual acts on him. A three-year-old girl was allegedly sexually abused by the suspect in exchange for payment in August and September 2023.
The Bergen resident was arrested in May 2026, after an American organization had reported the crime. He allegedly watched Filipino children being sexually abused on a webcam.
“How did it get this far?” the prosecutor asked on Tuesday. “He was a man who had everything.” The suspect worked in a hospital, but resigned from his position since the accusations were made public. He will be assessed by a psychologist.
Martin B. was reportedly in contact with so-called facilitators in the Philippines during the child sex abuse, the facilitators offer children for sexual abuse. Some of the people involved have been arrested in the Philippines, the prosecutor told the court.
Reading the chats that B. sent to his Philippine accomplices is disconcerting, the prosecution said. “He had bought some land in the Philippines and sent messages saying that he was going to live there after his retirement and that all the girls were welcome there.” The suspect allegedly sent messages stating all the things “he was going to do with the girls.”
The next pro forma hearing is on September 16.
Prosecution recommends up to 30 years prison for couple that sexually abused 6 children
The Public Prosecution Service has recommended 30 and 20 years in prison against 57-year-old Richard van den B. of Woudenberg and his 34-year-old ex-wife Evertje van E., respectively, along with mandatory psychiatric treatment, over the repeated severe sexual abuse of children in their care. Some of the victims were drugged with GHB.
Van E. and Van den B., are accused of severe sexual abuse of six very young children, with ages from under a year old and up to ten years of age. They babysat for the children, sometimes during sleepovers. Some of the cases involved drugging the children with GHB. Two of them are the children of Van E.’s brother. The other four are daughters of a good friend.
Van den B. denied many of the accusations on Monday, with the exception of the incidents that were caught on camera. Van E. also denied it at first but eventually admitted her role in the child sex abuse, admitting to administering the GHB and sometimes holding the children while her partner sexually abused them.
Specialists working for the judiciary’s observation clinic, the Pieter Baan Center (PBC), advised the District Court in Utrecht to sentence Van E. to mandatory psychiatric treatment at a TBS facility on Tuesday afternoon. The specialists have stated that Evertje van E. has several mental disorders, the most damaging being post-traumatic stress disorder, which are due to memories of years of sexual abuse from her father.
Van E.’s father was convicted of the child sex abuse. He abused his daughter weekly, “in all kinds of ways,” specialists said. The abuse occurred while the woman was 11 and 18 years of age. Van E. is from a strict religious background, which she has now distanced herself from.
Van den B. was also assessed by the PBC, but specialists were unable to provide any advice regarding his mental state. Van den B. was difficult to study, they told the court on Tuesday, because he claims to have no memory of abusing the children. He also refused to show “the back of his tongue,” the specialists said.
This was not the case for Van E. She described the PBC as “very good” to her in court. “I was able to tell my story; I could tell them exactly how it was for me and how it happened.” She stated that she is willing to cooperate in any kind of treatment. “Because this can never happen again.”
Both suspects were assessed together to gain insight into the power dynamic. Van E. said that the abuse would not have happened if she had never gotten into this relationship. The PBC determined that Van den B. was “more dominant” and Van E. was “more submissive.”
Van den B. stated that he was a sex addict at the time and that he cannot remember the child abuse because it was “like a blur” due to the addiction. The Public Prosecution Service stated that they do not believe these claims.
The families of the victims gave emotional testimonies in court on Tuesday. “Everything is broken,” one of the two mothers involved said. “No life is possible for us anymore.”
The mother of the four girls quoted the words of the children when they told her about the abuse. “When I had said it, I was scared of what would happen,” the girl said who was the first to tell her parents. “The police came. And my grandmother and grandfather. I had to tell the police my story. I was afraid. When I stayed over, I knew nothing anymore. I was afraid and pretended to be asleep. I was scared and tired and would have nightmares.”
One of her sisters, who is also quoted by the mother, said: “I want you to be in prison forever. You are stupid. Why did you do it? It hurt so much. It is not my fault but your fault. You should be in prison until you die.”
Police made contact with Van E.’s brother during late February 2026, when both suspects had been arrested. The parents involved said that their lives were destroyed when they heard the news. “How were you able to look us in the eyes?” The mother of the children said in her statement. “How were you able to pretend to be the fun auntie and uncle at birthdays while you were destroying our family?”
“I was unable to protect my children,” Van E.’s brother said. “That broke me. It will continue to haunt me.”
Van E. said in response that she is “very sorry” that she was not able to “protect the children from this man.” Van den B. noted that he felt a lot of “pain and sadness” after hearing the victim’s testimonies.
Reporting by ANP
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