Abuse victim feared ‘bumping into
Orthodox Jewish paedophile’ on the street
 |
|
Menachem Levy arriving at
Wood Green Crown Court during his trial.
Picture: Central News.
|
Friday,
March 7, 2014
8:00 AM
A woman who suffered years of sexual abuse as a child feared
she could be confronted in the street by her abuser after he launched a bid to
be released from jail.
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| Yehudis Goldsobel. Picture: Nigel Sutton. |
Yehudis
Goldsobel, 28, who has waived her right to lifelong anonymity, told the Ham&High she
had been left panicked after discovering Menachem Levy, 41, an Orthodox Jew,
had appealed against his conviction and three-year prison sentence for sexual
abuse.
The
father-of-seven, of Princes Park Avenue, Golders Green, was jailed last June
for abusing Ms Goldsobel over a six-year period, beginning when she was just
13.
But
on Tuesday of last week, Levy, who was a friend of the victim’s Orthodox Jewish
family, had his case at the Court of Appeal dismissed by three of the country’s
top judges.
Speaking
after the verdict, Ms Goldsobel said: “I hadn’t mentally prepared myself for
bumping into him in the street. It saddened me to think this weekend I could
bump into him in north west London.
“It’s
all well and good that I’m an adult standing up now. But I was once a child and
he ruined my childhood. We all have free choice to do what we do and he chose
to do what he did and he ruined my childhood.”
Lawyers
representing Levy, who was convicted of two counts of indecent assault and
cleared of one count of rape last year, argued his convictions were “unsafe”
because jurors were misdirected by the trial judge and were “pressured” into
reaching verdicts.
His
barrister, Tania Griffiths QC, also urged judges to reduce his jail term,
claiming his sentence had had a “devastating
effect”
on his family and had resulted in him losing his business.
She
told the court Levy has not yet seen his youngest child – born after he was
jailed – and would miss the “critical date” of his eldest son’s Bar Mitzvah,
unless his sentence was cut.
But
judges Lord Justice Fulford, sitting with Mr Justice Griffith Williams and
Judge David Griffith-Jones QC, dismissed the appeal, insisting the convictions
were safe and Levy’s sentence was appropriate, in light of the grave crimes he
committed.
Ms
Goldsobel said: “When I read the appeal it was about how he hasn’t met his
two-month-old baby and how his family don’t
deserve
this.
“Of
course I feel sympathetic to them because they didn’t do anything wrong either.
When he did what he did he didn’t just ruin my life, he ruined his family’s
life.”
Ms
Goldsobel, who started charity Migdal Emunah two years ago, offering therapy
and advice sessions for victims of childhood abuse, is now campaigning to make
changes to the criminal justice system following her experience of the appeal
system.
“All
the people in the courtroom [in the original trial] were so particular to make sure
it didn’t come to this,” she said. “Obviously there was some way for them to
create an appeal which drags the victim back in. The fact that he can go
through two trials and then an appeal means the whole thing went too far.
“The
fact that any perpetrator can do that is dragging their victim back into their
mess and that, for me, is heartbreaking.
“But
that’s how this country works. It’s a criminal justice system, not a victim
justice system.”
For
more information about Ms Goldsobel’s charity, visit www.migdalemunah.com.
