AUSTRALIA
The Age
February 5, 2015
Jane Lee
The head of Sydney’s ultra-orthodox Jewish community did not tell police that a rabbinical student accused of child sexual abuse was planning to leave Australia because he did not think it was necessary.
Appearing before the royal commission into child sexual abuse on Thursday, Rabbi Pinchus Feldman, the former head of Yeshiva College Bondi, was questioned on the way he dealt with abuse claims against the student, known as AVL.
About July 2002, a parent complained that AVL – then a teacher’s aide at ultra-orthodox Jewish Yeshiva Centre – had abused their child at a local synagogue’s youth camp, the commission heard. Within two days, he had left Australia.
AVL met Rabbi Pinchus Feldman and his son a day after the complaint was made. AVL maintained his innocence and told them he might go back to America.
He had already been told not to return to work until further notice.
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