Child molester jailed as police seek extradition
AUSTRALIA’S efforts to extradite child molester David Kramer are gathering momentum, with the former Yeshivah College (Melbourne) teacher set to front the Federal Court in the US in a matter of months.
AUSTRALIA’S efforts to extradite child molester David Kramer are gathering momentum, with the former Yeshivah College (Melbourne) teacher set to front the Federal Court in the US in a matter of months.
Kramer was reportedly spirited to Israel in 1992 by the college, before moving to the US a decade later, where he was convicted of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy in Missouri and sentenced to seven years in jail at the Missouri Department of Corrections.
He was paroled in April after serving four years of his sentence and arrested immediately by US Marshals on his release because of the extradition request by the Australian government.
A spokesperson for the Attorney-General’s Department told The AJN that Kramer was “wanted by Victorian authorities to face prosecution for the offences of indecent assault and indecent acts with a child under the age of 16” and that “Mr Kramer was arrested in the United States on 23 April 2012 in response to Australia’s request for his extradition”.
The alleged assaults were committed against four boys at Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1992.
Kramer is currently on remand in a St Louis jail and has applied for bail. He will likely face court in August for the beginning of extradition proceedings.
A lawyer for Kramer, Matthew Chase, said his client denies the charges and will argue the veracity of the claims made against the 51-year-old, given more than 20 years have passed since the alleged abuses took place.
“There’s no option but to fight it [the charges]. He denies the wrongdoing vehemently,” Chase told The AJN.
“It’s tough [because] he’s now a convicted felon. It’s frustrating for me to have a client who is facing charges that could have been brought at any time in the last 20 years and chose
not to.”
“It’s 20 years-plus old complaints. Complaints which were made at the time and for 20 years Australia very easily could have found out where he was. It’s not like he’s been a fugitive hiding from justice, nor was he a person who fled Australia.”
Chase said one of the alleged victims has accused Kramer of hundreds of separate instances of abuse, a claim he describes as “outlandish”.
“They have a lot of statements … There’s no physical evidence. They have nothing and it’s 20 years old.”
Victim advocate Manny Waks, who has publicly claimed he was sexually assaulted at Yeshivah College, said it is common for accusations of abuse to surface years after the incidents are alleged to have happened.
“It is important to understand that children who were sexually abused often do not take any remedial action until they are much older,” Waks said.
“It could be due to shame, guilt, confusion and/or pressure – depending on the individual and their circumstances. But regardless of when remedial action is taken, often the impact of the abuse is long-lasting.
“Perpetrators and their enablers should always be held to full account, irrespective of the length of time after the abuse. It should be left to the judicial process to determine the veracity of such serious allegations.”
Victoria Police would not comment on the investigation or the extradition proceedings.
ADAM KAMIEN
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