Filipina caregiver is key witness in murder of Tel Mond woman

A Filipina caregiver working for the Chaim family gave police investigators crucial information about the murder of Ofira Chaim which her ex-husband David Chaim confessed to perpetrating, according to documents released during a hearing at the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Israeli media suggested that the caregiver may have even seen the murder being carried out.

Chaim was found dead July 10 in the garden of her home in Tel Mond two weeks after she was reported missing. Police found her body in the backyard of her home in the usually peaceful town of Tel Mond near Netanya after her son-in-law reported he had found a suspicious hole in the garden. Police suspect Chaim murdered his ex-wife in a dispute over money.

Additional relatives of Chaim were arrested as well, and police suspected that one of the daughters of Ofira and David Chaim may have been involved in the murder. All suspects apart from David Chaim have since been released.

David Chaim confessed last week to murdering his ex-wife, and denied that anyone else was involved. He told investigators, “Ofira came to our family compound after I initiated the meeting. When she came in, I pounced on her, dragged her to the backyard and strangled her to death. Only I did it.”

At the court on Tuesday, Chaim told reporters: “I’m sorry about what happened. I’m sorry about the argument we had. I love my daughters.”

Chaim’s remand was extended by ten days.

The Jerusalem Post´s Hebrew-language sister publication Maariv quoted Chaim’s lawyers Shai Levi and Guy Maimon as saying, “We have not received any preliminary document that determines the cause of her death. We can say from experience that it takes about a month, and that is in addition to the investigation. We will wait patiently for the materials from the investigation and for the pathological opinion, which will shed light on the case and on all the questions that have been asked.”