SYDNEY (JTA) — An Australia native living in the United States was charged with two counts of indecent assault against two teenagers at a Sydney Chabad center in the 1980s.
Daniel (Gug) Hayman, 49, of Los Angeles, appeared in a Sydney court on Monday but the case was adjourned until Nov. 20. He was refused bail, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Hayman had returned to Sydney for the funeral of his mother last week.
He was arrested for allegedly assaulting the two males, then 14 and 16, between 1985 and 1986 while he was a volunteer for a Chabad-run camp.
Although Hayman was involved in the Yeshiva Center, the headquarters of Chabad in Sydney, he was never an employee, according to a Chabad spokesman.
“Mr. Hayman attended Yeshiva Synagogue to pray or for classes but was never an employee or teacher at the Yeshiva Center,” Rabbi Eli Feldman said in a statement. “Any volunteer work that he offered Yeshiva did not include responsibility for children.”
Media reports have suggested that Hayman’s alleged assaults had been brought to the attention of Pinchus Feldman, the chief rabbi of Chabad in Sydney. But Feldman reiterated this week that he had no recollection of such warnings.
“I endorse the unequivocal rabbinical rulings encouraging any victims of abuse to report to the police,” he said, “and I will continue to support the efforts of law enforcement agencies in investigating and taking action to protect our community.”
Tzedek, a support group for Jewish victims of child sex abuse, said in a statement Tuesday that it had tipped off police that Hayman was in the country.
“We look forward to seeing justice for the courageous victims in the Hayman case,” Tzedek CEO Manny Waks said.
Hayman’s arrest comes as David Cyprys, a former security guard contracted to the Chabad-run Yeshivah College in Melbourne, faces a sentencing hearing next week for multiple crimes perpetrated on students in the 1980s and ’90s.
David Kramer, an American-born former teacher at the college, was jailed in July for crimes against four students in the 1990s.
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