Husband of Hasidic Sex Abuse Victim Getting Death Threats

The Gothamist
October 24, 2013

http://gothamist.com/2013/10/23/husband_of_hasidic_sex_abuse_victim.php

Rabbi Nechemya Weberman

Last winter, ultra-Orthodox Jewish counselor Nechemya Weberman was convicted by a Brooklyn jury of 59 counts of sexually abusing a teenage girl, and was sentenced to 103 years in prison for his crimes. During the trial, victim Boorey Deutsch testified about being abused from the ages of 12 through 17, despite threats of retaliation. Now, nearly 10 months later, she and her husband Hershy Deutsch are receiving death threats.

“I know my Jewish rights...I am allowed to kill you and that [is] what I am going to do,” the Post reports one person wrote on Deutsch's Facebook. “I AM GOING TO KILL YOU WITH IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS you may be stronger than one thousand satmar people but not stronger than a gun bullet."

The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office is investigating the threat, which was left by "Ben Weiss" (believed to be a fake account) under one of the couple’s wedding photos. “If he can write such things, he might be able to actually do it. My body got very cold,” he told the Post. “I’m willing to do anything in the world to get him locked up.”

This isn't the first time the Deutsches have been harassed since the trial ended: back in September, the couple were harassed in their family’s synagogue on Rosh Hashanah.

Journalist Allison Yarrow’s wrote a book about the trial and Weberman, The Devil of Williamsburg, which offers some fascinating insights into the Satmar community. Among other things, she reveals that Weberman was originally offered a five-year plea bargain which he rejected: "He couldn’t have pleaded guilty in any case. Satmar would not have let him plead guilty. Even if he wanted to, he would’t have been allowed to because it would have been a mark on Satmar."