Mother accused of starving her child mulls move to UK

Spokesperson for family: They will move to get away from the police and the state prosecutors who are out to get her.

By MATTHEW WAGNER
child starving mother with guard 248.88 (photo credit: AP)
child starving mother with guard 248.88
(photo credit: AP)
The haredi woman accused of starving her three-year-old son might move to Britain to live with her husband's family after the trial is over, a spokesman for the Eda Haredit said Sunday. "It is unclear how long this trial will take," said Shmuel Poppenheim, a spokesman for the Eda Haredit, an umbrella organization for various anti-Zionist haredi sects. "But there is a good chance that when it is all over and she proves her innocence, the family will move to Britain to get away from the police and the state prosecutors who are out to get her," he added. Poppenheim was confirming a story that appeared in the daily Yisrael Hayom. The same news item also reported that Ya'acov Weinroth, a high-powered lawyer who has represented Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, as well as prominent haredi individuals, would be representing the mother. The Eda Haredit is to make a special appeal to pay the lawyer's fees. The mother is a member of the Toldot Aharon sect, perhaps one of the most insular and purist of the hassidic sects in the Eda Haredit. Most members of the sect live within a few kilometers of each other in Jerusalem's Mea She'arim neighborhood. A satellite community was set up a few years ago in Beit Shemesh. However, some members of the sect also live abroad, often together with other hassidic sects such as Satmar. Poppenheim said there were communities in New York and Australia, as well as in Britain.