The Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday sentenced a notorious polygamous cult leader to 30 years' imprisonment for sex crimes against his wives and daughters, in what prosecutors described as a mind-boggling saga of dominance and delusions of deity. Goel Ratzon, 64, who "married" 21 women and fathered 49 children, denied the allegations brought against him, but was found guilty of multiple counts of rape, sodomy, indecent assault and statutory rape, perpetrated against six complainants. He was also convicted of multiple counts of fraud. Ratzon was also ordered to pay 470,000 shekels (about $125,000) in restitution to the complainants. The court acquitted Ratzon of several separate counts of enslavement of his spouses and children -- a crime punishable by up to 16 years imprisonment -- saying the prosecution failed to meet the burden of proof on the matter. The verdict, which concluded four years of legal proceedings against the cult leader, found Ratzon's behavior "manipulative and horrifying." "The number of serious crimes of which the defendant was convicted is such that, had we ruled on each of them separately, the sentence would have been in the triple digits. Therefore, the court has no choice but to order concurrent prison sentences," judges Nurit Achituv, Miriam Diskin and Raanan Ben Yosef wrote in their verdict. The prosecution welcomed the sentencing ruling as "befitting of the crimes in this case." Ratzon's public defender said, "This is a harsh sentence, and obviously, this is a difficult day for him." Prosecutor Dalia Abramoff said, "The important thing about this case is that the group has been disbanded and the many victims have been given the opportunity for a new future." She praised the joint efforts of the police, prosecution and welfare services in investigating the case and punishing the guilty party. "The one comfort is that Goel will no longer be able to teach his messianic legacy to his children," one of Ratzon's wives, identified only as Maayan, told Israel Hayom Tuesday. She said she felt the sentence was fair, and that his acquittal of the enslavement charges, "doesn't mean that he didn't do those things to me and to the other women." Ratzon's son, Yigal, was disappointed by his father's sentence. "I don't understand what is going on here, this is a shocking punishment. They gave my father a life sentence," Yigal Ratzon said. He had previously said he hoped his father would get no more than a seven-year sentence. In 2010, Israel's Channel 10 was granted access to one of Ratzon's homes in Tel Aviv, providing a rare glimpse into his life. "I am perfect, I have all the qualities a woman desires, all the virtues a woman desires, the treatment a woman desires. It is comprised of many things but I have, luckily, I have it all. How to explain this -- [I am] just perfect," Ratzon told the Channel 10 reporter.
