Teen testifies in sexual assault case involving rabbinical student

NEW YORK
Times Herald-Record

By Andrew Beam
Times Herald-Record

Posted Nov. 16, 2015

MONTICELLO – The 15-year-old boy who accuses a South Fallsburg rabbinical student of sexually assaulting him said he sleeps with a small pocket knife beneath his pillow since the alleged assault occurred.

The teen – who was 11 years old when he said the incident occurred – testified in Sullivan County Court on Monday that he keeps the knife there because he’s “paranoid.”

Monday was the first day of testimony in the nonjury trial of 29-year-old Haim Boukris. He is charged with predatory sexual assault against a child and first-degree sexual abuse, both felonies.

The teen told Sullivan County Assistant District Attorney Eamonn Neary that in 2011, Boukris took him to an empty bungalow colony and forced oral and anal sex on him. He said the alleged assault happened after Boukris offered him a ride home. He said he was “scared and confused” about what was happening to him.

In the days after the alleged as sault, the boy said he started having trouble sleeping and that he “had more anger than usual.”

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