Mashgiach gets 17 years for sexually abusing three nieces hundreds of times
The Mashgiach (Yeshiva school supervisor) from Jerusalem who was
arrested last year for sexually abusing three sisters from his own
family, has been sentenced today to 17 years in prison. He will also pay
145,000 Shekel in compensation to the victims.
The sentence was handed down by the Jerusalem District Court after
the Mashgiach admitted to some of the charges as part of a plea bargain.
The identity of the Mashgiach is under a gag order at the request of
the family of the victims.
The original 17-page indictment, obtained by JTA in May of last
year, accuses the Mashgiach of raping his alleged victims — sisters now
aged 24 and 28 — hundreds of times since they were 6 and 7, sodomizing
them, performing obscene acts on them and assaulting them while telling
them that the sexual contact was required by religious law, or halacha.
He also is charged with attempting to perform and performing an indecent
act under deceitful pretenses on a third sister, now 30, when she was
19.
The indictment said the alleged acts happened at the Mashgiach’s
home, at the homes of the complainants, at his office at the yeshiva and
in his car. Spanning over 20 years, his actions are said to have begun
in his alleged victims’ early childhood and continued until they were
young mothers in their 20s.
According to the indictment, the Mashgiach began molesting one of
the girls when she was 6, “turning her into an instrument for the
fulfillment of his sexual desires.”
“The defendant used his status in the family and the community, as
an authority on the Torah, and the fact that he supported financially
the families of the victim, while encouraging her sense of dependence
and duty,” the indictment said of one victim. “As she matured, the
defendant added to these manipulations, falsehoods and lies, claiming
halacha makes his actions not only permissible, but a mitzvah.”
The document also said The Mashgiach claimed his life and health
depended on the girl’s compliance and that his actions with her were
necessary to repair damages to her soul sustained during a previous
incarnation.