Father ordered to pay NIS 1.6 m. over abuse of daughter

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
A man convicted and jailed for having sexually abused the elder of his two daughters has been ordered by a judge to pay his ex-wife and both his daughters a total of NIS 1.6 million in compensation for the pain and suffering he caused them, reports www.local.co.il. The judge said it was not enough that the man had caused the destruction of his family by his criminal actions and that the women were still suffering as a result, but he had also tried to seize their few remaining possessions and property by taking legal action against them from prison. According to the report, the case first came to light in 1995, when the elder daughter was 14 and revealed to a social worker that she had been repeatedly raped and sexually molested by her father from the age of 10. In February 1997, the father was sentenced to 14 years in prison. From there, he sued his ex-wife and his daughters for their joint apartment and its contents, and for their car. The mother and the daughters then counter-sued for the pain and suffering he had caused them over the years. Judge Marina Levy in the Krayot Court for Family Matters ordered the man to pay NIS 1.02 million to the elder daughter, now in her late 20s, in compensation for pain and suffering, lost wages and necessary psychological treatment. The judge said the man had "breached his basic parental duty" toward his daughter and she was still suffering as a result of the abuse. The judge also ordered the man to pay NIS 420,000 to his ex-wife, saying she had suffered violence and humiliation at his hands and had been unable to help her daughter. And she ordered the man to pay NIS 170,000 in compensation to the younger daughter, now in her mid-20s, in compensation for her suffering. The judge said the father had not been satisfied with the destruction to his family caused by his criminal actions, and had "made cynical use of the court" by reaching out from his jail cell to initiate legal proceedings in an attempt to get hold of the few possessions remaining to the women. She appointed a lawyer to oversee the prompt division of the family property, saying the mother had the right to buy out the father's share in the apartment if she wished to do so, using her compensation money after alimony, child support and other payments were deducted from the cost of the property.