Guest Post
Was the Honorable Judge Amnon Cohen biased in the judgment of Zalman Cohen?
Recently, Zalman Cohen was convicted and sentenced to 9 years as one of
the Nachlaot Pedophiles from the alleged "Nachlaot Pedophile Ring".
All of the material in this article is taken from either the Court
Document of Zalman Cohen's verdict, or as a comparison, from the Court
Document of Ben Tzion P. who was acquitted of all charges against him.
The verdict for Zalman Cohen was based entirely on the testimony of
four minors who testified against him, along with their parents, the
child investigators, and psychologists. There was no physical evidence
of molestation (such as the presence of DNA or doctors' findings of
physical damage to the bodies of the children). The type of evidence
presented against him was quite similar in nature to what was presented
against Ben Tzion. The children spoke in a way that seemed believable;
that is, they did not appear to be intentionally lying. However, there
were contradictions and impossibilities in the children's testimonies.
The judges in Ben Tzion's case felt that this presented a doubt as to
whether Ben Tzion ought to be convicted, and therefore acquitted him.
In the case of Zalman, the Honorable Judge Amnon Cohen explained away
any problems with the children's testimonies as being due to their
confusion since they must have been traumatized by experiencing the
sexual molestation that had allegedly occurred.
The defense did not bring any personal eye witnesses in Zalman's favor.
Zalman claimed that no one wanted to endanger themselves by
testifying, but the judge dismissed that. (However, it is
understandable that people would not want to get involved out of fear
that they would also be accused of being members of the "Nachlaot
Pedophile Ring".) The defense also brought two expert witnesses, who
stated that children under pressure are likely to generate false
memories that are indistinguishable from memories of actual events
which transpired. The judge also dismissed the expert witnesses'
statements about false memories.
The judge acknowledged that there had been some contamination of the
children's testimonies in the Nachlaot Pedophile Case, and that there
had been panic and gossip in the neighborhood, but decided that this did
not invalidate the testimony of the four children who testified
against Zalman in the case. The four minors who testified against
Zalman were:
1. "Dalet", who also testified against Ben Tzion. She was the child who
testified that the children undressed outside Ben Tzion's house. The
judge decided that since she did not live in the neighborhood, but only
came to visit her cousin, she would not have been exposed to the
gossip. That is simply not true. She definitely heard the gossip from
her cousins and relatives, regarding Zalman and others. Here is a quote
regarding her testimony with regards to Zalman which appeared in the
decision made by the judges in Ben Tzion's trial:
בתשובה לשאלות נוספות התבקשה לתת תיאור של זלמן שהיה בחדר ואמרה שהוא נראה
חרדי מחופש. כאשר נשאלה מנין היא יודעת שהוא מחופש, אמרה: "אבא של בת
דודה שלי אמר" (עמ' 18, שורה 29).
[Translation: In answer to additional questions, she was asked to give
a description of Zalman who was in the room, and said that he looked
like he was disguising himself as a Chareidi. When she was asked from
where she knows that he
In contrast, in his statement regarding the conviction of Zalman, the
Honorable Judge Amnon Cohen did not even mention the above statement.
"Dalet" also contradicted herself on the two occasions in which she was
interrogated regarding Zalman. The first time she said he didn't do
anything but just watched. The second time, she said he did participate
to some extent. The judge, in point 37, dismissed the contradiction and
stated that the fact that she contradicted herself increased her
reliability as an witness.
The judge did mention the fact that "Dalet" was discussing the events
with others in between the interrogation sessions by the child
investigators (in point 46). Also, he mentioned how the mother of
"Dalet" pressured her to say something about the possibility of being
molested (in point 47). But in the end, in his point 48, he decided
that the contamination of "Dalet's" testimony by these outside factors
was not of any significance.
2. "Yud" was the second child who testified. He stated that he was
forced to touch a girl's genitalia during an event when boys and girls
were paired up. When asked what the girl's genitals were like, he said
they were just like a boy's genitals. The expert child investigator
expressed his opinion that at least this part of the boy's testimony
represented an event which had not occurred. However, the judge decided
to disagree with the expert child investigator's opinion in this
instance, and stated that he believed the event must have really
occurred but that since the child was so traumatized he didn't remember
that a girl's parts are different from a boy's parts.
3. "Shin" was the third child who testified. The mother of Shin
admitted to trying to force her child to say something for several
hours, with such force that "Shin" ultimately had her eyes roll back
and fainted. Subsequently, the mother took "Shin" to repeated therapy
sessions in order to get her to talk about being molested. Although
initially "Shin" denied being molested and said she didn't remember
anything ever occurring, after the extreme pressure from her mother,
and the repeated pressure from the therapist, "Shin" finally said that
she "remembers". Rather than recognize that the mother was putting a
strong amount of pressure on her child, which in and of itself was a
traumatic experience which would be a strong inducement to generate a
false memory, the judge felt that the child's fainting must be evidence
that she had undergone sexual molestation by Zalman Cohen and others.
The judge's reasoning was that the mother and therapist didn't tell her
what to say specifically, but just asked her to tell about being
molested. Also the judge decided that because of the numerous details
that "Shin" gave when she "remembered" the alleged molestation, it was
unlikely that she had made it up. However, the research on false memory
generation indicates that it is not necessary to ask specific questions
in order to generate richly detailed false memories of events which
did not occur in young children, and that the children actually believe
the richly detailed stories that they tell. For example, some research
was done in which it was suggested to children that they had
experienced a number of events, some true and some false. One of the
false events was the experience of having a finger caught in a mouse
trap and having to go to the hospital to be treated for that. A number
of children generated richly detailed storied about having their finger
caught in a mouse trap even though the event had never occurred. (See
the scientific research article:
http://www.shoreline.edu/dchri s/psych209/Documents/Ceci% 20and%20Loftus.pdf)
"Shin" described in detail how she went from one apartment (Ben
Tzion's) to another apartment (Binyamin's) and then a third apartment
(Zalman's). The judge felt that the detail of how she went from one
house to the next was quite impressive. But almost every child in the
neighborhood would have been able to describe how to go to each of
those houses (regardless of whether they had been molested or not),
even if their parents had not taken them on a tour to see where they
were. And the parents did take the neighborhood children on tours to
ask them if they had been in those houses (as the judge mentioned at
several places in his statement). The neighborhood is quite small, and
gossips a lot. It would be amazing if there would be any resident of
the neighborhood, child or adult, who didn't know exactly where those
three individuals lived.
In addition "Shin" described in detail similar though not identical
events that allegedly occurred in all three apartments. In all three
apartments, there were similar details about watching a soccer movie,
being in a bathtub, and the presence of a stick of some kind. (See point
112 in the judge's statement.) The events seem absurd and pointless.
The judge stated that the reason for the similarity was that the three
individuals, Ben Tzion, Binyamin, and Zalman acted together in most
circumstances and that is why the events described are similar. However,
nowhere did "Shin" say that all three men were present together at the
time of watching the soccer movies, sitting in the bathtub, or during
any of the alleged events. So I don't know how the judge arrived at
that conclusion. Also, the judge made much of the fact that "Shin" did
not say that Ben Tzion tried to sit on the stick "Eastern style", but
instead used the stick to hit her, while the other two men sat on the
stick. Therefore since the events she described were similar but not
identical, they must be true, according to the judge.
4. "Mem" was the fourth child who testified. "Mem" stated that he was
in Binyamin's house and that many of the other alleged pedophiles who
were on the "list" were there, including Zalman. A movie was watched in
which there was "Pritzut" (in English: "Immodesty"). One has to be
knowledgeable about the Chareidi outlook to understand what "Immodesty"
means to them. A movie with "Immodesty" would not necessarily mean a
pornographic movie, but could simply be a movie in which girls were
wearing short sleeved shirts and pants. Also, perhaps this is not common
knowledge, but most Chareidim forbid the watching of any movies
whatsoever, which makes it much more tempting for a child to want to go
to someone else who has a computer where he can watch a movie for
entertainment. I have no doubt that many Chareidi children whose parents
forbid the watching of movies, probably do go to the houses of other
people to watch movies.
"Mem" also acknowledged that there was extensive discussion of all the
alleged pedophiles in the neighborhood, between himself and others.
The judge discounted the possibility that the panic and discussions in
the neighborhood could have caused "Mem" to have a false memory.
However, he didn't discuss at all the possibility that there could have
been a real memory that was distorted. Perhaps at some time "Mem" did
go to Binyamin's house, and watched a movie. But were all those other
people (including Zalman) present? Did they undress?
The judge found support for "Mem's" testimony, from his mother's
testimony. His mother said that "Mem" used to wet his bed up until the
age of 12 years, and that after he gave his testimony, he was able to
get over that problem. Therefore, the judge concluded that this proves
he must have been molested and that giving his testimony made him feel
better. However, there could be other explanations for why "Mem" got
over his bed-wetting problem. Perhaps he simply matured and grew out of
it.
In contrast, the judge also found support from the fact that after
"Mem's" siblings testified, their mother stated that they seemed to get
worse and develop more emotional problems than they had before.
According to the judge, if a child's behavior and emotional state
improved after giving testimony, that meant the child must have been
molested. But if a child's behavior and emotional state got worse after
giving testimony, that also meant the child must have been molested.
Although the Honorable Judge Amnon Cohen does not mention Ritual Abuse,
he does mention the strange nature of the abuse as seen in
the testimony of "Shin" but this does not seem to bother him. What is
not seen in the Court Document of Zalman Cohen is what the parents
claim occurred.
In order to understand the underlying point of view of the parents
making the accusations against Zalman Cohen and the other alleged
"Nachlaot Pedophile Ring" members, I think it is important to look at
the lengthy documents which have been published by someone on the "
rotter.net"
website, under the pseudonym "Sheleg". In particular, the claim is
made that the purpose of the "Nachlaot Pedophile Ring" was to perform
ritual child abuse in order to convert the children to Christianity.
The reason to understand the underlying point of view of the parents
is to truly understand that either: 1) everything they say is true
(including the claims of tunnels and secret rooms) and the Nachlaot
Pedophile Ring really exists and the diabolical purpose of it all is to
try to convert their children to Christianity, or 2) nothing they say
is true at all and they are totally insane in their beliefs and
outlooks, or 3) some of what they say is true, but their beliefs are
mixed with a lot of crazy thoughts and one must be very careful before
condemning anyone based on the testimony of these parents and their
children.
What also needs to be looked at is not only the evidence presented
regarding these four children who testified in the case against Zalman,
but also the testimonies given by the other children which were not
presented. These four children were among approximately 80 children
that testified, and only these four were accepted by the child
investigators. (In Ben Tzion's trial the judges requested to look at
the testimony of the other children which the child investigators had
rejected, in order to get a better overall picture of what actually
happened.) The parents claim that all of these children were also
molested, as well as others that did not testify. This supposedly
went on for years. Nachlaot was one busy place and yet no one noticed.
