Ultra-Orthodox Shun Their Own for Reporting Child Sexual Abuse

[Grimmlok]

lol

[witchcurlgirl]

It is not all Ultra-Orthodox Jews that feel this way..no matter how many negative stories on jews are posted here on this site... they are like every one else you will find the good the bad and the ugly..

I think we have many many more negative stories about christians here, we're very equal opportunity.

[witchcurlgirl]

Lawyers Say Hasidic Teen Accusing Community Leader of Repeated Sexual Assault Is a Lying Minx


The ongoing case against 54-year-old Nechemya Weberman, a beloved pillar of Brooklyn's Satmar Hasidic community who is accused of repeatedly raping a now 17-year-old girl during years of one-on-one "counseling sessions," is illustrative of how sexual molestation is covered up within close-knit communities, but also of how all cultures seem to believe that certain girls are raped and certain girls are not.


According to both her own testimony and the defense's attempt to invalidate her, Weberman's accuser is a longtime rebel: she said she started questioning the Satmar community in 6th grade and repeatedly got in trouble for wondering whether God really existed and what life was like outside the confines of Williamsburg.


That's when Weberman stepped in, who once worked with the girl's father and was known around town as a standup guy who had done a lot of favors for the community. He wasn't a licensed therapist, but he seemed a "natural choice" to mentor the girl, according to The Daily Beast's Allison Yarrow.


"He was a God" within the community, the teen said of Weberman in court last week, who is pleading not guilty to a whopping 88 counts of sexual assault. She, on the other hand, felt like "a piece of dirt." She also said that he watched her as a child "and said he knew I was going to come to him and he couldn't wait for the day." Her account of what transpired during their counseling sessions is horrifying:

The teen-as an alleged victim of sexual assault, she has not been publicly identified-accuses Weberman of sexually abusing her in a spare room with a triple-locked door, one lock only accessible from the inside. He kissed and groped her body, she says on the stand, forced her to perform oral sex on him, showed her pornographic films, and made her copy the acts. Sometimes, she says, his children played on the other side of the door, or Weberman's wife might call before entering to use the very computer on which she said the community pillar forced her to watch and mimic sex. She recounts skipping sessions after Passover in 2009, but said Weberman visited her family home and entered her room while she was in bed and abused her there.

Shockingly, Weberman's "counseling" didn't help her fit in at school; she said her teachers called her the Yiddish word for "heretic" for wearing skirts that were too short, tights that were too sheer, and sweaters that weren't buttoned up to her throat. In 2009, she started secretly dating Jeremy Solomon, a boy a few years older than she who worked at a neighborhood store. Hasidic women aren't even supposed to know what sex is until they marry, so she had few people she could tell about her burgeoning relationship. Ultimately, she confided in Weberman.


One day, she sent Solomon a Facebook message and received a response from his attorney; he had been arrested for statutory rape. The teenager said she thought it was because her father hid a camera in her bedroom and taped her having sex with him — which definitely happened because prosecutors said they had seen the video — but the defense alleges that the girl realized Weberman must have had something to do with it. The next year, Weberman helped her enroll in an alternative school for girls, which is where she finally mustered up the courage to tell a teacher that he had molested her for years.


Consider how terribly sad it is that the teenager confided in her alleged rapist as a last resort, how he was apparently the only person she could talk to and help her transfer schools. Even sadder is how Weberman's defense attorneys are using those details to paint the teen as a devious and depressed (by no fault of Weberman's) minx, "a recalcitrant, unhappy girl with a fallible character and a taste for revenge," who wanted to get back at Weberman for helping her boyfriend get arrested:

In his opening statement, [defense attorney] George Farkas painted the teen as a "free spirit" who read forbidden magazines, like Cosmo, and after finding a confidante in Weberman felt betrayed by his role in having her boyfriend arrested. She wanted "to bring down the entire community," he said, with "great vengeance and furious anger ... [for] vengeance and revenge against Nechemya Weberman, and through this, to bring down the entire community that either supported him, or of which he was a part."

Ooh, she read Cosmo which obviously means she can't be trusted. (Didn't you see last month's piece on "10 Sexy Ways to Accuse Totally Innocent Dudes of Rape"?) Moreover, she expressed doubts about her community from a very young age, which really means she can't be trusted.


The Orthodox community has been criticized for covering up sex crimes and intimidating those who try and come forward — often, those accusers are called "mosers," which means "informer" or "snitch." Yarrow reports that Weberman's accuser has many supporters in court, but they're mostly observant Jews from other communities. Weberman, on the other hand, has so many supporters that four men were arrested and charged with witness intimidation for trying to bribe the teen and her now-husband with $500,000 to drop the case and leave the country. Four men were arrested during her trial for taking photos of her, one of which was tweeted and emailed around. In court, the teen said she had gone forth with the charges despite "intimidation," "intimidation of my parents," "loss of business," and "having my nieces kicked out of school."


Now, at only 17, she's finally fitting into her community: she's married, covers her hair in a wig as married Orthodox women do, and is planning on starting a college seminary program after everything settles down. "I wanted to die rather than live with myself," she told the court. "I didn't know how to fight. I was numb." Will the jury believe her testimony, or will they decide she's just another conniving Lolita?

Lawyers Say Hasidic Teen Accusing Community Leader of Repeated Sexual Assault Is a Lying Minx

[Sasha]

She recounts skipping sessions after Passover in 2009, but said Weberman visited her family home and entered her room while she was in bed and abused her there.

The teenager said she thought it was because her father hid a camera in her bedroom and taped her having sex with him — which definitely happened because prosecutors said they had seen the video —

So did Dad just happen know when his daughter would be having sex with young Solomon, or was the camera always there? In which case..well, the implications are obvious.

[sputnik]

It is not all Ultra-Orthodox Jews that feel this way..no matter how many negative stories on jews are posted here on this site... they are like every one else you will find the good the bad and the ugly..

oh fuck, it's you again. seriously, don't you get sick of yourself and your one-track mind and retarded blindness to facts? you remind me of a friend of my mother's who has nothing better to do than spam my inbox with one-sided, far-right pro-israeli shit accusing anyone who doesn't agree with everything the israeli government thinks, says or does of being crypto-nazis and anti-semites.

[witchcurlgirl]

Jury Convicts Unlicensed Therapist of Sexually Abusing a Girl He Counseled



Nechemya Weberman



Sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community has long been hidden. Victims who came forward were intimidated into silence; their families were shunned; cases were dropped for a lack of cooperation.

But on Monday, a State Supreme Court jury in Brooklyn delivered a stunning victory to prosecutors and victims’ advocates, convicting a 54-year-old unlicensed therapist who is a prominent member of the Satmar Hasidic community of Williamsburg of repeatedly sexually abusing a young girl who had been sent to him for help.

“The veil of secrecy has been lifted,” said Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney. “The wall that has existed in parts of these communities has now been broken through. And as far as I’m concerned, it is very clear to me that it is only going to get better for people who are victimized in these various communities.”

The case against the therapist, Nechemya Weberman, was a significant milestone for Mr. Hynes, whose office has been criticized for not acting aggressively enough against sexual abusers in the borough’s large and politically connected ultra-Orthodox community.

The verdict represented the first time Mr. Hynes’ office has won a conviction of a prominent member of the Satmar Hasidic community of Williamsburg for child sexual abuse. The case also offered a glimpse of the Satmar community’s shadowy efforts to enforce rigid codes of behavior, particularly for young girls, by allowing so-called modesty committees to intimidate girls for wearing revealing clothing or using cellphones, and requiring parents to send children judged to be breaking rules to religious counselors, many of whom are not licensed and charge high fees.

The trial of Mr. Weberman, which began on Nov. 26, was a difficult one because there was no physical evidence; the trial hinged on the credibility of Mr. Weberman, who is well connected and powerful in his community, and that of a young woman who had been shunned for being a rebellious teen. The girl said Mr. Weberman had abused her for three years, starting when she was 12, fondling her and forcing her to perform oral sex. He denied that he had ever touched her.

The jury believed the young woman and convicted Mr. Weberman of all 59 counts against him. Justice John G. Ingram scheduled a sentencing on Jan. 9; the most serious charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years, but depending on how the sentence is structured, Mr. Weberman could spend even longer in prison.

Samuel Heilman, a professor of sociology at Queens College of the City University of New York who studies the Hasidic community, called the verdict “remarkable.”

“Here was a guy protected by the community, supported by the community, and the case against him was from a young girl,” Professor Heilman said. Among the things it demonstrates, he said, is that “the district attorney should have started this kind of thing sooner.”

The verdict against Mr. Weberman was a deeply emotional moment for the young woman, who is now 18, and her family, according to her mother, who spoke in a telephone interview several hours after the verdict.

“I cried and cried, and couldn’t stop crying,” said the woman, whose name is being withheld by The New York Times to shield the identity of her daughter. “I couldn’t stop crying that justice came out.”

Mr. Weberman did not show emotion as the word guilty was read out, 59 times, in the 20th floor courtroom. He looked briefly at members of his family, who held on to each other as the verdict was read, and then was led into custody.

One of Mr. Weberman’s lawyers, George Farkas, said he would appeal.

“We firmly believe that this jury got an unfairly sanitized version of the facts, and as a result the truth did not come out,” he said. “The struggle to clear an innocent man will continue in full force.”

Prosecutors told reporters after the verdict that other women had come forward to assert that they had been abused by Mr. Weberman, including one who had come forward during the trial. Mr. Hynes said those women were unwilling or unable to testify, leaving his office with just one prosecutable case.

Mr. Hynes said he was hopeful that the victim’s “great courage” in testifying would encourage other women who have been abused, particularly in ultra-Orthodox communities, to come forward.

Prosecution of sexual abuse allegations in the ultra-Orthodox community has been hampered in the past by the intimidation of witnesses. In this case, Mr. Hynes’s office brought charges against four men for allegedly trying to interfere with the case, through bribery and threats. Then, during the trial, three other men were charged for taking cellphone pictures of the victim, in violation of court rules. And, although supporters of accused abusers often dominated the galleries at previous trials of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, on many days at this trial, supporters of the accuser and advocates for abuse victims were in the majority.

Rabbi Yosef Blau, a victims’ advocate and the spiritual supervisor of Yeshiva University, said he hoped that the Satmar community would now be forced to change how it deals with troubled young people, who, like this young victim, have been sent to counselors without training or accountability, instead of licensed professionals.

“It’s a system which allowed this abuse to take place,” he said. “It involves no scrutiny, no controls, and is a terrible way of dealing with children who have issues, whatever those issues might be.”

But Pearl Engleman of Williamsburg, who became a victims’ advocate after her son said that he had been molested in the Satmar school system, said it would take more than this case to transform her community. Hundreds turned up for a fund-raiser in Mr. Weberman’s support earlier this year, and even with a guilty verdict, she said, she does not expect many to change their minds.

“There are people who are still rooting for him,” she said. “They just can’t wrap their heads around a Jew sitting in jail for that much time.”



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/ny...gewanted=print

[Grimmlok]

Well that's just anti-semitic.

[sputnik]

yeah, where's workingirl when you need her?

[scooter]

I have just finished reading 'Unorthodox' which is an autobiography of a Satmar young women who leaves the sect. She writes in several places about similar situations where the other hasids close their eyes to sexual abuse, and in fact will throw the child out of seminary, for example, for reporting the abuse by their teacher.

[witchcurlgirl]

Hasidic Therapist Sentenced to 103 Years in Sexual Abuse Case

An unlicensed therapist who was a prominent member of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn was sentenced on Tuesday to 103 years in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing a young woman, beginning the attacks when she was 12.


The therapist, Nechemya Weberman, 54, a member of the Satmar Hasidic community of Williamsburg, did not react as the judge sentenced him. The victim, now 18, who delivered an impassioned statement asking for the maximum sentence to be imposed, dabbed away tears.


“The message should go out to all victims of sexual abuse that your cries will be heard and justice will be done,” Justice John G. Ingram of State Supreme Court said before imposing the sentence, which was close to the longest the law allows. Justice Ingram praised the young victim’s “courage and bravery in coming forward.”


As Mr. Weberman was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs, he turned to his wife and gave her a nod and a small smile.


On Dec. 9, Mr. Weberman was found guilty of 59 counts of sexual abuse, charges that carried a maximum combined sentence of 117 years. He was found guilty of engaging in various sexual acts, including oral sex, groping and acting out pornographic videos, during therapy sessions that were meant to help the girl become more religious. The abuse lasted three years.


In her statement, the victim said that for years during and after the abuse, she would look in the mirror and see “a girl who didn’t want to live in her own skin.”


“I would cry until the tears ran dry,” she said. But now, she said, she can see someone “who finally stood up and spoke out,” on behalf of both herself and “the other silent victims.”


“You played around with and destroyed lives as if they were your toys,” she told Mr. Weberman, “without the slightest bit of mercy.”


Mr. Weberman, who wore his traditional black suit and head covering, did not speak before the sentencing, but his lawyer, George Farkas, said he was “innocent of the crimes charged.” An appeal is planned.


The case was closely watched as the first high-profile child-sexual-abuse case brought by the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, against a member of the politically powerful Satmar ultra-Orthodox community in his more than two decades in office. This sentence is the longest a Brooklyn court has imposed on a member of the ultra-Orthodox community for child sexual abuse.


Critics have charged Mr. Hynes with not being aggressive enough in going after molesters in the politically well-connected community. But Mr. Hynes has attributed the lack of prosecutions on the intimidation to stay silent that ultra-Orthodox sex-abuse victims and their families often face from their own community leaders.


Support for Mr. Weberman was strong in powerful circles of the Satmar community after his arrest in 2011, with hundreds turning out for a fund-raiser for his defense. But the courtroom on Tuesday was about equally divided between supporters for him and for his victim.


Mr. Hynes has said he believes the case may be a turning point for ultra-Orthodox victims of sexual abuse. In addition to convicting Mr. Weberman, his office also charged seven Hasidic men with bribery and intimidation of Mr. Weberman’s victim, who testified over four days. Prosecutors say they know of more victims who were too afraid to testify.


“If there is one message to take away from this case, it is that this office will pursue the evil of sexual abuse of a child no matter where it occurs in this county,” Mr. Hynes said in a statement. “The abuse of a child cannot be swept under the rug or dealt with by insular groups believing only they know what is best for their community.”


The victim, who has since married and enrolled in college, no longer lives in Williamsburg but continues to face harassment and intimidation by some who still support Mr. Weberman, according to her husband.


“She definitely feels relieved, and she will be able to sleep better at night,” the husband said Tuesday. “He definitely won’t be able to hurt anyone else.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/ny...ison.html?_r=0

[sputnik]

good.

[DeadDwarf]

Hope he rots.

[piperdiva]

Oh, it's Satmar. Figures. They are known among Jewish circles to be cray cray.

[sluce]

Finally.