Wall Street Journal Weberman is accused of sexually abusing the girl dozens of times in his home and office over a three-year span beginning when she was 12 years old. The girl, who turns 18 next week, is not being identified because she is the victim of a sexual-abuse crime.
The teen testified she was taken to see Weberman after school leaders deemed her a problem after she questioned her religion.
“I had a lot of questions about religion. … How do you know God exists?” she said, adding that in response her teacher “yelled at me and sent me to the principal. It happened to me a lot of times.”
She started seeing Weberman in March 2007, first twice a week and sometimes up to four times a week.
Speaking in almost inaudible tones and at times struggling to hold back tears, she described the alleged abuse in detail for more than three hours.
“I just froze,” she said about their first encounter. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to respond. I didn’t know how to fight back. I was numb.”
“He would continue touching me all the time,” she said, adding later, “I wanted to die rather than live with myself.”
The teen testified she was taken to see Weberman after school leaders deemed her a problem after she questioned her religion.
“I had a lot of questions about religion. … How do you know God exists?” she said, adding that in response her teacher “yelled at me and sent me to the principal. It happened to me a lot of times.”
She started seeing Weberman in March 2007, first twice a week and sometimes up to four times a week.
Speaking in almost inaudible tones and at times struggling to hold back tears, she described the alleged abuse in detail for more than three hours.
“I just froze,” she said about their first encounter. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to respond. I didn’t know how to fight back. I was numb.”
“He would continue touching me all the time,” she said, adding later, “I wanted to die rather than live with myself.”
Are there organizations working within the Orthodox community to change attitudes about abuse accusations? I've been reading about this for years (from you and other sources), and I feel that communal attitudes protecting "our own" at all costs are the root of the problem and we need to address it.
ReplyDeleteThis Weberman guy is bad news. עתיד ליתן את הדין!!
ReplyDelete