Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse – a conversation with Rabbi Lesches
Sexual abuse victim known only by the code name AVB has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne about a conversation he had with Rabbi Baruch Dov Lesches.
AVB, who had been a victim of Daniel “Gug” Haman called Rabbis Lesches in New York where the rabbi had moved to.
“I told him I was calling about Gug Hayman. He sighed and said Yes? Yes? What? What? Go ahead. I told Rabbi Lesches that Hayman had told me that he, Rabbi Lesches, had spoken to Hayman about his behaviour. Rabbi Lesches said – Yes I spoke with him that he has to stop. I told him that he must stop what he is doing. During the conversation, Rabbi Lesches made clear that he was aware of the name of at least one victim of Hayman prior to the assault perpetrated upon myself. I said Gug told me he was confronted recently and he said that you spoke to him a few times about it. He remembers specifically the early stages you told him to stay away from [REDACTED] when the story first came out. He responded ‘Absolutely! That’s right!’ I told him to stay away and I told him if this will not stop both of them will have to go away.
He said that Rabbis Lesches had spoken to Hayman a couple of years before AVB had been 44.
