AUSTRALIA
Failed Messiah
“Regardless of whether mandatory reporting laws were in place, any right-thinking person would have realised that the sodomy of children was a serious crime which merited police investigation, no matter who the alleged perpetrator was. It is offensive and irresponsible to suggest that an 11-year-old child could have consented to sexual activity with someone 10 years his senior – in fact Australian law has always deemed such behaviour to be statutory rape.”
For immediate release
Monday 24 June 2013
[The Australian victims advocacy group] Tzedek strongly condemns and is appalled by the callous views and behaviour of Rabbi Boruch Lesches as reported in The Age.
We expect the police to thoroughly investigate all claims relating to the rape and sexual abuse of children at Yeshivah, irrespective of when this is alleged to have occurred, and to vigorously pursue any perpetrators and their enablers to the full extent of the law, including considering extradition of anyone now living overseas who is credibly accused of committing a serious criminal offence.
If Rabbi Lesches was indeed aware of the allegations that children under Yeshiva’s care had been assaulted and raped by a person known to him, his behaviour is both immoral and unfathomable. Regardless of whether mandatory reporting laws were in place, any right-thinking person would have realised that the sodomy of children was a serious crime which merited police investigation, no matter who the alleged perpetrator was. It is offensive and irresponsible to suggest that an 11-year-old child could have consented to sexual activity with someone 10 years his senior – in fact Australian law has always deemed such behaviour to be statutory rape.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.