"Did he say anything?" Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory asked.
"He said something but I don't remember," murmured the young man, dressed in jeans, white shirt, tie and a yarmulke on shoulder-length black scraggly hair.
He spoke so softly and with such hesitation that Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Patricia DiMango repeatedly asked him to speak up.
"How did you feel?" Gregory asked of the alleged attacks.
"Very uncomfortable and confused," he said.
He sat less than 20 feet from Lebovits, 59, who was surrounded by supporters.
The rabbi, who owns a Borough Park travel agency, faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of a criminal sexual act in the second-degree.
He's also awaiting trial on charges of molesting two others.
The man accusing him yesterday admitted he was in rehab for heroin and crack addiction that began after the incidents.
"It's a shame to talk about it and I have low self-esteem," he said, explaining to jurors why he didn't lodge charges until he'd left the Hasidic community.
Lebovits' lawyer hammered him in opening statements, calling him a con man with a history of drugs, crime and missed court dates.
"You're going to be sold a bill of goods," lawyer Arthur Aidala said, claiming the accuser intends to sue his client. "This is a con man that's going to take the stand.
"There's no video, there's no eyewitness, no DNA, there's no fingerprints... That evidence doesn't exist because all these acts Miss Gregory described didn't happen."
VeeBee
4:17 PM
Mar 3, 2010
Mar 3, 2010
hjo4
ezekiel14
monzon3
theodore bundy
5:30 PM
Mar 3, 2010
Mar 3, 2010
Anacondaman
5:31 PM
Mar 3, 2010
Mar 3, 2010
seth fardy
Yankees621
5:36 PM
Mar 3, 2010
Mar 3, 2010
I understand Aidala has to defend his client but ad hominem attacks on an alleged abuse victims is unseemly. And, it turns jurors off. Male victims rarely, if ever, come forward. Add to that this young man came from the very cloistered Hasidic community where abuse of all sorts, especially at the hands of rabbis, is covered up. Already we hear about how his "supporters" turned out to intimidate the young man. The rabbi may be able to fool a jury and his congregation, but God sees all.
Azazel
5:38 PM
Mar 3, 2010
Mar 3, 2010
NYCCrocheter
6:18 PM
Mar 3, 2010
Mar 3, 2010
Most unfortunately, the bulk of clergy abuse allegations are not from con artists, but from deeply disturbed people with a long history of substance abuse and/or use of psychotropic prescription medications like Prozac. Prozac halluncinations are based on worst fears. The accusers aren't horrible, but they are extremely unreliable and very sad, poor souls.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=89678#ixzz0h9yQ7Rk2
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Today a 22-year-old testified In Brooklyn Supreme Court that he was sexually molested by Borough Park Rabbi Baruch Lebovits. The young man, who's no longer part of the Hasidic community, was dressed in "jeans, white shirt, tie and a yarmulke" and spoke softly, according to the Daily News. "How did you feel?" asked the assistant district attorney. "Very uncomfortable and very confused," he responded. Lebovits will soon stand trial on charges of sodomizing two others, and has been accused of hundreds more counts of child rape and abuse [Pdf Charge Sheets]. Still, his lawyer called the witness a "con man" and warned the jury, "You're going to be sold a bill of goods."
Lebovits's accuser told the court the rabbi had assaulted him multiple times in a car between 2004 and 2005. Since the incident, he said, he's fallen prey to heroin and crack addiction. "It's a shame to talk about it and I have low self-esteem," said the man, who waited to press charges until after leaving the tight-knit religious group. But the defense railed on: "There's no video, there's no eyewitness, no DNA, there's no fingerprints... That evidence doesn't exist because all these acts...didn't happen."
If convicted, Lebovits faces a sentence of up to seven years on charges of criminal sexual acts in the second-degree. Late last year a Hasidic man named Motty Borger committed suicide by jumping from the seventh story of a hotel two days into his honeymoon, having confided to friend that he'd been molested by a prominent rabbi. According to Failed Messiah and the Post, that rabbi was Lebovits.
Lebovits's accuser told the court the rabbi had assaulted him multiple times in a car between 2004 and 2005. Since the incident, he said, he's fallen prey to heroin and crack addiction. "It's a shame to talk about it and I have low self-esteem," said the man, who waited to press charges until after leaving the tight-knit religious group. But the defense railed on: "There's no video, there's no eyewitness, no DNA, there's no fingerprints... That evidence doesn't exist because all these acts...didn't happen."
If convicted, Lebovits faces a sentence of up to seven years on charges of criminal sexual acts in the second-degree. Late last year a Hasidic man named Motty Borger committed suicide by jumping from the seventh story of a hotel two days into his honeymoon, having confided to friend that he'd been molested by a prominent rabbi. According to Failed Messiah and the Post, that rabbi was Lebovits.
Just as in any community, the Hasids have pervs in their midst. This doesn't surprise me at all.
evbo replied to comment from Gwinny
Indeed. The only thing that surprises me is that we haven't heard about anything like this sooner. Move over, Catholics...it's the Hasids' turn!
.JPG)
