Shai Mika Yifrach arrived today (Tuesday) to testify at Roman Zadorov’s retrial regarding the murder of Tair Rada in the controversial case. It will be recalled that the Supreme Court ruled that Zadorov should be retried nine years after he was convicted of murder – due to new evidence presented by his defense.
It should be noted that Yifrach entered the courtroom through a side door, because she felt threatened. Tair’s mother, Ilana, was furious about this and claimed: “It’s because secrets were revealed to her, so that she would continue to lie. She is not threatened, she is a liar.”
Yifrach, who was Rada’s best friend and one of the last to see her alive, testified about the last day of Tair’s life. However, her testimony was interrupted several times by Tair’s mother, who called her a “liar.” “I met Tair during the break in the pergola outside the school grounds,” Yifrach opened her testimony. “Tair told me that she did not want to return to school for the last hour, and we arranged to meet.”
Ilana Rada in court hearing (archive)
Yifrach went on to describe her friend’s last hours: “Tair put her head on me and said, ‘I’ll be back in two seconds,’ and returned to the school grounds. After ten minutes, in which Tair did not return, I stood up and started looking for her.” Yifrach went on to say that the school “was quiet”, saying “I really remember the atmosphere. Only two classes studied, in those few seconds I saw a man passing by. Already on the day of the murder I described what that person looked like at the police station”.
Yifrach continued her testimony, recounting: “I only saw that he had something about the width of his hands, but I did not recognize what it was, maybe a large coat. The same person would have looked Russian-looking. I remembered he had a hat on his head and a layered jacket. Above me “. As for her feelings about that stranger, Yifrach testified that she did not think he posed a threat. “As a girl in Katzrin I did not experience anything. I was just in school, it never occurred to me that I should be threatened or that someone was in danger,” she said.
Yifrach continued to tell about the discovery of the murder. “I waited to light up by the fountain for a few minutes, then sat down under the bench. After a while children came to sit with me until the end of school and then I ran to Ilana’s house and that’s how I found out about the case, I was shocked.”
When Yifrach was asked why she was not looking for Tair, she said: “Tair was a very acceptable girl. I thought at first she might have met friends. I did not think of the worst. And I just went home.”
It will be recalled that Tair Rada was murdered in a toilet cubicle at her school in Katzrin in 2006, and despite Zadorov’s conviction in 2010, many believe that Zadorov’s conviction, which was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2019, was incorrect. In recent years, Tair’s mother has pointed the finger of blame at Tair’s friends, including Yifrach, who testified today, claiming that they are responsible for the murder. Zdorov’s lawyer accuses Ole Kravchenko – a Katzrin resident at the time – of the act.
Zdorov was convicted on the basis of his confession to murder in front of a dubber who was placed in his cell as part of a police exercise and reconstruction that exists at the murder scene. But in recent years, many sources have shown that the details on which Zadorov’s conviction was based were known to the public and published in the media, and it is suspected that investigators even “guided” Zadorov during the reconstruction he performed.
However, the evidence that led to his conviction and retrial is a drop of blood found at the murder scene, where it is doubtful whether a footprint found at the scene belonged to Zadorov, an anonymous extractor or another factor in the scene – which could lead to a reasonable doubt in a case that may never remain under heavy shadow.
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