'Juvenile sex offenders are ticking time bomb'

YNet   Juvenile sex offenders are devoid of any real rehabilitation and may pose a threat to society as they grow older, the National Council for the Child (NCC) warned Sunday.

According to the NCC, unlike adult sex offenders, teens convicted of sex offenses are not offered any substantial treatment or rehabilitation, even if they are jailed.

Israeli law makes no such provisions and therefore the courts cannot order treatment as part of rulings rendered in cases involving minors.

In a recent ruling, given in a matter of a teen convicted of aggravated sexual assault, the Supreme Court criticized the Israeli Prison Service for failing to provide him with therapy despite the fact that he was deemed dangerous.

Weberman jurors reported to be split on guilt

NY Daily News    A dozen jurors deliberating the fate of a prominent Hasidic counselor Friday have a long road ahead of them, judging by the reactions of three excused alternates.

The jurors, sprung from Nechemya Weberman’s two-week trial on Friday, gave wildly divergent opinions on whether he’s guilty of sexually abusing a Brooklyn teen for three years.

“It’s a tough one,” said one former juror who declined to give his name. “I think they’re split down the middle. I was split down the middle as well.”

But the man said he would have convicted Weberman, 54, on at least some of the 60 counts that he’s facing.

A woman, who was also excused from the panel, disagreed.

“I didn’t hear enough evidence to nail the person,” she said. “No video, no DNA.”[...]

“I think he’s guilty, but it’s a matter of what he’s guilty of,” said a third juror, a 41-year-old man from Canarsie.  He praised the testimony of the teenager, saying she had to obey authority, but still “decided to speak out.”

Chaim Halpern: Are rabbis afraid to condemn him?

Times of Israel    A local religious authority announced plans Tuesday to establish a special court to investigate one of its leading rabbis for alleged sexual misconduct.

According to a statement issued by the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, the organization is “in the process of setting up an independent beis din consisting of prominent and renowned dayanim,” or religious judges, to “thoroughly investigate” allegations against London rabbi Chaim Halpern. The court will “hear testimony and look at evidence, and its final psak [ruling] will be adhered to by our Rabbinate.”

The leader of the Union, Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, “expresses the wish that no further action nor declaration be made until that psak is issued,” it added.[...]

However, plans for a whitewash were the exact allegation made by Yisroel Lichtenstein of the Federation of Synagogues, who so far is the only religious judge or rabbi to comment on the case on the record. He suggested that the purpose of the new court would be to overturn the ruling made at a previous hearing by six London rabbis, who heard testimony last month from one of Halpern’s alleged victims. Halpern subsequently withdrew from all of his public positions, except at his synagogue.

“It seems like a whitewash,” Lichtenstein said of the proposed new court. “What was wrong with the first [hearing]?”

Now passing E1 – don’t blink

Times of Israel   [....] We returned to the car and I told him to look at the clock and remember the exact time. I stepped on the gas and headed south. Two minutes later, we passed the Zeitim junction, “We just left Jerusalem,” I informed him, “watch the clock.” Two more minutes passed; we admired the desert landscape; saw a shepherd with his herd of bedraggled goats. I stepped on the gas a little. “And now, we are in Ma’ale Adumim,” I announced as we drove up the hill to the checkpoint and the entrance to the city with its beautiful flower beds and tall palm trees swaying in the cool winter breeze. “We just passed through E1.” I said, somewhat triumphantly. “That’s it!”

He looked frankly shocked. “But we just left Jerusalem a few minutes ago,” he uttered. “Four minutes exactly,” I replied. “And I didn’t even go over the speed limit!” “And that was E1?” he asked incredulously. “Yes,” I answered. “That is E1 and now you are in the biggest ‘settlement’ in the West Bank. Now you know what all the fuss is about and next time they talk about E1 you can say that you have been there and that you saw the goats.”

“But it is so close, and this looks just like a normal town,” he continued, “No one ever showed me this before.” [...]

Weberman trial: He testifies he is innocent

NY Daily News   A prominent Hasidic counselor said he “never ever” sexually assaulted a beautiful Brooklyn girl, and testified he didn’t know anything about lingerie bought by a charity he founded.

Nechemya Weberman, taking the stand in a child-sex-abuse case, acknowledged Wednesday that he founded a charity and used it to pay for his salary and his kids’ education.[...]

Children who had issues following the sect’s strict rules would be referred to him by schools or rabbis, he said, and he would then charge their parents about $150 an hour to counsel them.

In her testimony last week, the alleged victim testified she objected to the sect’s stringent dress code, which required thicker tights than she cared to wear.

When he first counseled the teen who brought the charges against him, “She was very quiet, looking down, closed in,” Weberman said. She slowly opened up, he added, discussing religious questions and problems she had at school and her home.

“At the beginning, we spoke a lot and I spent a lot of time with her to understand what bothers her,” he said. Weberman acknowledged the sessions cost her parents tens of thousands of dollars.

He was asked by his lawyer about the aim of the counseling sessions.

“To save her life,” Weberman replied.

Weberman trial: Request for children to pray for him

This is a letter in Yiddish that appeared on twitpic hattip to Remark  [my translation from Yiddish]

For the honor of the respected teachers,

We are now faced with the trial  of the important askan R' Nechemiah Tzvi ben Dinah Weberman about whom the debased and lowly elements from the fringe  of society have made false claims and slandered. Therefore the teachers have been requested to pray for him together with the young students and implore Gd every day he should go free. Therefore people should have this in mind when they answer "Amen Yehe Shmei Rabbah" which is a segula to annul bad decrees against a person. In addition Chapter 20 of Tehilim should be said and then the name that G-d should help and that the slanderers should have no hope and Nechemia Tzvi ben Dina should be freed  from all actions AMEN. 

Be fully aware that if this type of low and disgusting slander succeeds in this case then every single person is in danger of being a victim.

We have no other strength then our mouth for use as gifts and prayer. Our enemies will bow and fall but we will rise and be upright.

Weberman trial:Mother paid $12.8 K for "therapy"

 NY Post    If she stopped seeing her alleged abuser, she would have been expelled from school.

The mother of a teenage Brooklyn girl who was allegedly sexually abused by a prominent Hasidic leader testified yesterday that she was forced by her daughter’s yeshiva to send the girl to the man for counseling — and even had to pay for the dubious privilege. [...] “The school gave her a hard time and said she was ‘apikoros,’ ” [...]

When asked the repercussion of not sending her youngest daughter to Weberman, she answered in halting English, “They wouldn’t accept her. They wouldn’t allow her to go to school.”

United Talmudical Academy administrators even required the family to pay Weberman $12,800 in advance — before the teen started eighth grade, the mother testified. [...]