I will preface the latter and note that in his testimony in court, the defendant discussed the main points of the aforementioned response, i.e., the claim that he was in his home at the time of the murder, but changed the description of his conduct in the morning hours, incidentally to the alleged visit to the hummus shop, and also said that he left the family compound once more that morning. He also shared for the first time that the "other" who was with him that morning was his cousin Udai Musrati. Later on, these data will be detailed in more detail in the relevant chapters. Before we dive into the depth of the evidence, and in order to make it easier for the reader, we will make an initial acquaintance with the entirety of the people involved, with the members of the Musrati family sometimes referred to by their first names from now on.
The people who are active:
The defendant, Ayman Musrati, born in 1990, is single, lives in the family compound at 13 Mordechai HaYehudi Street in Ramla (hereinafter: "the family compound"), and shares his apartment with his father, Shaker Musrati. Several of Shaker's brothers and their families, as well as the defendant's brother, Muhammad Musrati, live in separate housing units. Ahmad Musrati, the defendant's uncle, also lives in the family compound in Ramle, and he was the one who brought the stolen Mitsubishi into Israel, together with another nephew, who lives near the compound, Muhammad al-Khatib. 'Abdallah al-Khatib, a tow truck driver and cousin of the defendant, who was arrested on 29 August 2022, while loading his Mitsubishi onto his tow truck, was interrogated and not charged. Udai Musrati, Ayman's cousin and good friend, who lives in Haifa, in the Kiryat Eliezer neighborhood, was arrested next to the defendant in a Mazda, while loading the Mitsubishi car onto the tow truck on August 29, 2022, was interrogated with a warning but was not charged. 'Abd al-Hadi Musrati, another cousin of the defendant, has been living in Turkey for the past few years, arrived in Israel about a week before the murder, was also arrested together with the defendant on 29 August 2022, was interrogated under a warning but was not charged, and will later be referred to as 'Abed. Samer Musrati, Abd al-Hadi's late brother, and another cousin of the defendant, who was living on Khoury Street in Haifa at the time, and who, according to the defendant, as will be detailed below, was the one who held the operational phone number 685 on the day of the murder.