“It appears that Cardinal Mahony, who has a history of protecting sexual predators in the Church, will be further implicated as more documents are released.” – Joelle Casteix
In the same week that Jewish ultra-Orthodox counsellor Nechemya Weberman was sentenced to 103 years in prison for sexually abusing a teenage girl in 2007, documents were released this past Monday showing that Catholic religious leader Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles Archdiocese knowingly conspired with other church officials to protect priests who were known to have sexually abused children in the 1980s.
The LA Archdiocese, which is the nation’s largest, had been fighting to keep the documents secret since 2007 when a $660 million dollar judgement was awarded to 500 victims of church sexual abuse. A recent LA superior court judge’s ruling however, ordered the release of 30,000 documents naming the paedophile priests despite the Church’s pleas to protect their privacy.
Although all the documents have not yet been released, the ones which have, provide proof that Mahony and Monsignor Thomas J. Curry acted to protect Monsignor Peter Garcia who had bound and raped an 11-year-old boy and sexually abused more than a dozen other boys.
Mahony requested that Garcia not be sent to a Church run paedophile treatment centre because the therapists there are legally bound to report paedophiles to the police. Garcia had specifically targeted boys who were from undocumented families and threatened at least one of them with deportation if the parents dared to speak of what had happened.
Although it appears that Mahony, who has a history of protecting sexual predators in the Church, will be further implicated as more documents are released, legal experts are saying that lawyers may have difficulty charging him due to a statute of limitations on obstruction of justice.
The now retired Archbishop Mahony has apologized for his actions and said, “I have a 3×5 card for every victim I met with on the altar of my small chapel. I pray for them every single day. As I thumb through those cards I often pause as I am reminded of each personal story and the anguish that accompanies that life story.” – Uprising, 24 January 2013
» Joelle Casteix, western regional director of SNAP, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish counsellor gets 103 years in prison for sexually abusing under-age girl – Pervaiz Shallwani
A prominent ultra-Orthodox Jewish counsellor was sentenced to 103 years in prison in the sexual abuse of a teenage girl in the insular Brooklyn community.
Nechemya Weberman, 54 years old, was found guilty in December on 59 counts of sexual abuse and child endangerment, the most serious that he sexually abused the young woman for three years beginning when she was 12.
The victim, now 18, spoke for five minutes Tuesday, at times crying as she read from a prepared statement.
“I clearly remember how I would look in the mirror,” she said. “I saw a girl who didn’t want to live in her own skin, a girl whose innocence was shattered, a girl who couldn’t sleep at night because of the gruesome invasion that had been done to her body,” she told the judge.
She described herself as “a sad girl who wanted to live a normal life, but instead was being victimized by a 50-year-old man who forced her to perform sickening acts again and again.”
“I saw a girl who had no reason to live,” she said. “I would cry until my tears ran dry.”
She hoped that her coming forward “sets a precedent” and would give strength to other victims in the community.
Following the two-week trial that put a sharp focus on the Satmar Hasidic community, Weberman faced up to 117 years in prison.
Weberman who maintains his innocence did not address the judge before being sentenced, simply saying “no thanks,” when given the opportunity.
He looked towards his supporters, smiled and nodded as he was led away on handcuffs.
His attorneys plan to appeal the verdict and sentence.
There was no physical evidence presented at the trial, but both the victim and Weberman took the stand. Prosecutors portrayed Weberman as an unlicensed counsellor who used his position in the community to gain access to young women deemed problems for violating the modesty rules of the tight-knit community.
The victim testified that she was first taken to see Weberman in 2007 after she was caught text messaging a boy, wearing skirts that aren’t long enough and otherwise being singled out at her school. She accused Weberman by name in 2011, saying he abused her at every single session.
Weberman’s attorneys, though, spent four days cross-examining the victim in an attempt to discredit her testimony. On the stand, Weberman said he “never ever” abused her.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes — who has said prosecuting ultra-Orthodox Jewish cases can be more difficult than organized crime cases – said after the verdict that there were other victims of Weberman who had either opted not to press charges or who had passed the statute of limitations. – Wall Street Journal, 22 January 2013
» Pervaiz Shallwani is a Brooklyn-based journalist and classically trained cook whose work straddles the worlds of food and hard news. Sometimes, the two cross paths. He co-hosts the New York CHOW Report on NY1, and writes frequently for The Wall Street Journal.
LA sex abuse victims demand justice
Jewish counsellor sentenced to 103 years
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