MELBOURNE (JTA) – A victim of child abuse while a student at a Jewish school in Australia was awarded over $800,000 in damages in a civil case brought against his abuser.
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Manny Waks was abused by a worker at the Yeshivah Center’s Yeshivah College for boys in Melbourne for about two years until 1990. His abuser, David Cyprys, was convicted of raping one boy and abusing eight others and sentenced to four years in prison.
His victims have sued the Yeshivah Center, but Waks is the first victim to sue Cyprys directly, The Guardian reported. The Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne awarded the damages on Monday.
“I was determined to pursue justice against Cyprys in every way that I could – this serial pedophile has never expressed remorse or taken responsibility for his destructive abuse against so many children,” he told the newspaper.
Waks is now an advocate for child sexual abuse victims and is the founder of the victims’ rights organization Kol v’Oz.
Cyprys worked at Yeshivah College, an elementary and secondary school, in several capacities, including as a handyman and martial arts instructor. He was charged in September 2011 with multiple counts of indecent assault and gross indecency for the alleged sexual assault of students at the school between 1984 and 1991.
On Wednesday, he was released from Hopkins Correctional Centre, then rearrested and extradited to Sydney in New South Wales to face charges of sexual assault and acts of indecency that occurred in the Sydney suburb of Bondi in the 1980s, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Sad
Yes, Waks is a sad, bitter and revengeful individual. Sad but true even taking into account all he says he has suffered.