Menachem
Levy, 41, of Princes Park Avenue, was found guilty in May of indecent assault
of a female under the age of 16 following a trial at Wood Green Crown Court.
Levy first targeted the victim,
who was 14 when the abuse began, when he visited her family home in Hendon in
December 1999, He then subjected her to a series of sexual assaults at
other locations, including Levy’s home address, until December 2005,
The woman suffered a “course of
sexual abuse” between the ages of 14 and 21, “beginning when she was a child in
the eyes of the law”, prosecutor David Markham told Wood Green Crown Court.
After Mr Levy had first touched her sexually when she was 14, the abuse had
escalated over years as he “forced himself on her for sexual intercourse”.
The woman — who cannot legally be
identified — “did not complain during that period, because in essence she
thought she was to blame,” Mr Markham said.
“This was a belief and conviction
rooted in her upbringing in north London and the Orthodox Jewish community.”
Mr Levy had exploited her naivety
and fears, he said, by telling the woman that she would be the one in trouble
if she raised the alarm,
The woman, the barrister said,
had resisted his sexual overtures on some occasions and on others had submitted
“with a sense of powerlessness” but in neither situation had she consented.
It was only later when she was
abroad and saw a TV programme about sexual abuse that she grasped the magnitude
of what had happened to her, he said. When she returned home, in 2006, she told
her parents and later spoke to rabbis in her community.
Two years ago, she sent a letter
to Mr Levy, detailing the pain his actions had caused her. It said: “You
smouldered and suffocated my soul… stole my education… and virginity. You now
question what you can do to make it go away… It will never go away. I cannot
buy the things you stole from me.”
The letter went on to suggest
that he should apologise to her and reimburse her parents for the counselling
and therapy she had undergone.
“If an apology had been forthcoming
and resolution possible within the community, she would not have gone to the
police,” Mr Markham said.
In a video interview with police
played to the jury, the woman said she had felt she had been used “like a
utensil” by Mr Levy and had hated what went on.
At one stage, she had taken to
cutting herself with a razor — “the only way I could get rid of the pain
building up inside me”.
Explaining why she taken time to
go to police, she said that “in the religious Jewish world, you don’t call the police
for anything unless someone is murdering someone or stealing”.
When she had consulted rabbis,
“they basically told me there was nothing they could do; they didn’t know what
to do. They all started coming up with their bull**** excuses.”
Repeatedly questioned by the
defence barrister as to why she had not told someone, the woman described
herself as having been “very naive” and said: “In hindsight if I had known how
wrong what he was doing really was, I would have said something.”
He was described as “a good man”
by a leading Golders Green rabbi, Chaim Halpern, who gave evidence at the trial.
Prosecutor David Markham called
Mr Levy a “predatory and controlling individual” who had exploited a
“vulnerable” young woman.
Mr Levy, who had admitted to
rabbis that he had had an affair, had followed their suggestions on how to make
recompense.
He had made a charitable donation
to the family of £1,500 through one rabbi, which the father had kept for the
woman’s therapy fees
When another rabbi — Rabbi
Halpern — had suggested offering a further payment of £4,000, Mr Levy had been
reluctant in case it were taken as an admission of the allegations being made
by the family.
“The rabbi said ‘pay it’; he paid
it,” but the money was rejected by the family.
Levy was arrested at his home in
July 2011 and was charged in April the following year.
Det Con
Alistair Woods, from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command,
said: “The victim has shown a tremendous amount of courage to come forward and
give a detailed account of the abuse she suffered by Levy.
“No one
should suffer in silence - I would urge anyone who is a victim to come and
speak to us and let us help you.
“Specially
trained officers will support you, and thoroughly investigate your claims.
“This sentencing demonstrates
that the courts will prosecute those who prey on vulnerable people,
irrespective of their background or status.
“I hope
today’s sentencing can offer some kind of closure to the victim and her
family.”
