Zev Serebryanski: Police criticised for delay in alleged ultra-Orthodox child sexual abuse investigation
Lawyers acting for a man accused of sexually abusing a prominent activist when he was a child have criticised police for this aspect of the case.
A former member of Melbourne’s ultra-orthodox Jewish community will face trial over allegations he sexually abused Manny Waks more than three decades ago.
Zev Serebryanski, also known as Velvel, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court this week where he pleaded not guilty to four charges.
The 60-year-old agreed to be extradited from the United States last year and was charged with three counts of indecent assault and one count taking part in an act of sexual penetration.
Mr Waks, who has given NewsWire permission to identify him, alleges he was sexually abused by Mr Serebryanski in the late 1980s when he was aged about 10 to 12.
It’s alleged the abuse began at the Yeshivah Centre in St Kilda East, a synagogue and learning centre, after Mr Waks’ family moved from Sydney in 1985.
On Thursday, the court was told Mr Waks had first made a complaint to police in 1996 but little was done until Detective Senior Constable Michael Simonsen was assigned the case in January 2012.
“I ascertained there had not been effectively an investigation in relation to this matter,” he said.
“In the paperwork it’s just marked pending whereabouts … the main reason was on the back of the accused being overseas.”
Senior Constable Simonsen told the court over the following two years the case was periodically reopened to add additional witness statements before a brief of evidence was prepared in July 2014.
But he said the brief was not authorised at the time, because the penetration allegation was “statute barred” at the time and extradition was “unlikely to be granted”.
Mr Serebryanski’s barrister, Ian Hill KC, criticised the police handling of the case, questioning why there were “long periods” of inactivity and failures to take some investigative steps.
“What hasn’t been done is you doing your job of investigating the matter properly,” Mr Hill said.
Senior Constable Simonsen conceded he had not attended the Yeshivah centre to take photographs that could be relevant to the case, nor sought out witnesses who may have been present when the alleged offending occurred.
“I failed to do that,” he said.
Both Senior Constable Simonsen and Detective Senior Constable Andrew McNess, who took over the investigation in 2019, agreed there were “large gaps” in the investigation.
The court was told police notes in 2020 indicated Mr Waks had expressed doubts and frustration with the lack of progress.
Mr Hill said Mr Waks, who gave evidence in closed court on Wednesday, had named an individual who may have witnessed the alleged abuse.
“It’s defence counsel years later who ask an obvious question that gives you that answer,” he said.
“Police had never thought over a period of some 30 or more years to ask.”
Several witnesses told the court Mr Waks, now a prominent advocate for victims of child sexual abuse in Jewish communities, had previously disclosed the allegations to them.
School friend Yerachmiel Gorelik said Mr Waks raised allegations of abuse at “Velvel’s apartment and the synagogue” when they were aged about 11 or 12.
“When he shared it with me my understanding was it was ongoing in progress,” he said.
Mr Gorelik said he did not inform their teachers but shared the allegations with some friends in their class.
The court was told Mr Gorelik had initially declined to make a statement when contacted by police saying there were “big holes in my memory”, but provided a sworn statement in 2013.
“I just can’t give testimony with a clear conscience,” Mr Hill said he wrote.
“It’s been something like 20 or so years that these matters have not even entered my mind.”
Sheiny New, a former vice president of the Jewish Taskforce against Family Violence, said she had known Mr Waks since he was a child.
She told the court Mr Waks told her and her husband he allegedly had been “molested” by Mr Serebryanski but could not recall specifics because it was a long time ago.
Mr Serebryanski was committed to stand trial in the County Court after the presiding magistrate found the evidence could support a conviction.
He will return to court next month for a directions hearing.