Kfar Saba Man Indicted Over Violent Assault on Friend and Killing of Her Dog

Prosecutors filed an indictment on Thursday against Lior Saraf, 50, of Kfar Saba, over a severe assault on a female friend and the killing of a dog. The Central District Attorney's Office submitted the document to the Central District Court in Lod and asked that he be held in custody until the proceedings end. He has been detained since October 9.

According to the indictment, the incident took place overnight between October 8 and October 9. The friendship between Saraf and the woman had been broken off after a dispute and was renewed about a month earlier. Around 10:00 PM, he went to her home, where he met her and another guest. About an hour later the three traveled to his home in Kfar Saba, where Saraf and the woman used drugs and drank alcohol. The guest left after midnight.

The indictment says the two later showered together. The woman then went to the bedroom and called him in. He first refused, but after she called again, he went in and kissed her at her request. Prosecutors allege he then began punching her in the face repeatedly until she lost consciousness.

Saraf then allegedly took a samurai sword from a storage room and walked into the street, covered in blood. He went to a nearby home, left the sword by the gate and entered the yard, where three people were sitting. They saw the blood on his body, face and hands and offered to take him to Meir Medical Center. He agreed, but at the hospital entrance he asked them to wait, said he would be right back, and fled. The three then alerted police.

Around 3:45 AM, Saraf returned home, the indictment states. The woman was bleeding and badly bruised, and his Siberian Husky was licking her wounds. He allegedly took a hammer from a drawer and threw it at the dog, which ran into another room. He then followed with a large kitchen knife and stabbed the animal in the abdomen, killing it. Prosecutors say he washed the knife in the kitchen sink, showered to remove bloodstains, and neither gave the woman medical aid nor called for help.

Police arrived around 4:00 AM after a call to the 100 emergency hotline and summoned Magen David Adom paramedics. The woman was taken to Meir Medical Center with multiple facial fractures, including a comminuted nasal fracture with a damaged septum, a fractured cheekbone and fractures in the sinus area. She also had eye trauma and contusions on her face, neck and arm. She needed stitches and was hospitalized for three days.

The detention request describes shifting accounts Saraf gave in questioning. He first said the woman fell in the shower and the dog attacked her, then admitted beating her and killing the dog. In one version he said God had revealed Himself to him and that he saw her as a devil he had to kill. In another he said God told him instead to offer a sacrifice like the binding of Isaac, which led him to stab the dog. In a third interrogation he said he believed someone else was in the apartment and that his friend planned to harm him.

Evidence cited by prosecutors includes the woman's testimony, police body camera footage, photographs of bloodstains and of the dog's body, and her medical records. Security footage from a neighboring home shows Saraf carrying the sword on his back, and neighbors reported hearing screams and barking that stopped before police came. A municipal veterinary report found the dog died of an abdominal stab wound from a sharp object. Police also seized 48.08 grams of cannabis and under two grams of hashish from the living room table, which the indictment says were not for personal use.

Saraf is charged with aggravated assault, animal cruelty, obstruction of justice, possession of a knife and drug possession not for personal consumption. Prosecutors cited the assault and the dog's killing as proof of his dangerousness, and said they would not oppose a psychiatric evaluation.

In a separate case, Daniel Azaria, 35, of Rehovot, was charged with arson over a fire on September 3, 2026, at the Pandoor Doors offices in Rishon LeZion. He was arrested on October 7. The indictment says he drove to the site around 1:00 AM wearing a mask and carrying a hammer and a gallon of gasoline, struck the glass doors, poured fuel at the entrance and set it alight before fleeing. His ex-girlfriend worked there from 2017 to 2022, but prosecutors say his motive is unknown. A passerby called police, the sprinklers activated, and the fire caused minor damage to equipment and a door.