Judge tells jury that sexuality was 'taboo subject' among strictly Orthodox at trial of Daniel Golomb, who faces 14 counts of indecent assault
March 5, 2019 09:11
The alleged victims of child sexual abuse at the hands of a Chabad Lubavitch teacher waited two decades to come forward for fear of “reprisals and embarrassment” in the Charedi community, a court has heard.
Daniel Golomb, 46, is awaiting verdicts on 14 counts of indecent assault at Manchester Crown Court, after the jury retired on Monday afternoon following a three-week trial.
The historic allegations, on four different male victims aged between five and 12, include wiping the boys in intimate areas; penetration with a finger, pressing his genitals against one of them and sexual touching.
Each of the victims expressed reluctance to come forward as young men due to social pressures typical of Charedi communities, in which sexuality was a “taboo subject”, the judge said.
Mr Golomb, now of Stamford Hill, denies all of the charges – although he admitted wiping the bottoms of three of the boys, now saying it was “inappropriate”.
He maintains his actions were not sexually motivated, saying he was “naïve and unworldly… and over-fastidious” about personal hygiene when he began working as a teacher, in his late teens.
He also argued that he received little supervision at the school and had no formal teacher training.
The jury heard that the father-of-five was of “good character” and enjoyed “standing” in the Charedi community as an “impressive and learned man”.
Born in Enfield, North London, Mr Golomb settled in Prestwich, in Salford, in the early 1990s after returning from a Canadian yeshiva. He later spent time working in Liverpool and Marin County, California, before relocating to Stamford Hill.
Summing up the evidence, Judge David Hernandez recalled the testimony of one alleged victim, who claimed Mr Golomb pressed his aroused organ against him.
The teacher denies this, although he conceded that he had “held hands and hugged” the boy in bed while fully clothed but said he was not sexually aroused.
He also denied touching another boy while discussing “sexual education”, including “how the body produces semen”, as the boy claims.
Sarah Elliott QC, defending Golomb, contended that the allegations of sexual impropriety may have been “planted” in the mind of at least one witness by his mother.
She also suggested the alleged victims may have attempted to “get back at the defendant by exaggerating and embellishing and telling lies”, and that they may have been influenced by “rumours and innuendo” within the community about the defendant.
Each of the victims, now all in their 30s, either reported feeling unaware that Mr Golomb’s alleged offences were “wrong” at the time, or that they were unable to report them.
Besides the wiping three of the boys in intimate areas, which Mr Golomb admitted, Judge Hernandez instructed the jury to first consider whether they believe he had committed the other alleged acts.
He added, for all 14 counts, the jury must also consider whether each act constituted indecency “as viewed by right-minded people”, as well as whether the defendant “intended to commit an indecent act”.
A verdict is expected later this week.
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