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| David Kramer |
A rabbi was arrested, charged and convicted of numerous sexual abuse related charges after sexually abusing children at a yeshiva in Australia, according to court proceedings in Australia.
The U.S. rabbi who worked at an Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne during the 1990s pleaded guilty to a series of sexual abuse allegations.
David Kramer, 52, appeared by video in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday afternoon from prison.
Kramer pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault and one count of committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16 years. Six other charges were dropped.
Kramer previously worked at Yeshivah College in East St. Kilda. The offenses took place between 1990 and 1992.
Tzedek advocacy group chief executive Manny Waks later said that the guilty plea means that victims would be spared the trauma of reliving their abuse by having to testify in court.
“It is an important milestone for the many victims and a turning point for the Jewish community,” he said. ''Hopefully, this will encourage other victims to seek justice,” he added.
Waks said he was confident that Kramer would get the sentence he deserved. He said the court case sent a strong message to our community that perpetrators of child sexual abuse will be brought to justice, regardless of how long ago the offenses occurred.
Kramer was extradited from the U.S. last year after fleeing Australia, decades ago.
“I am very happy of this outcome. The victims of Kramer have been looking for justice for 20 years, Unfortunately, he escaped from the law. Sadly, in the U.S. he continued to sexually abuse children. Now, finally, he will be off the street,” Malky Bernstein, 30, a mother of 3 young children in Brooklyn, New York told YourJewishNews.com.
Kramer had been jailed for seven years in the U.S. for sexually abusing a 12-year-old at a youth program in a synagogue.