Hasidic counselor gets 103 years in prison

• Tweet

NEW YORK, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A prominent Hasidic Jewish counselor was given a 103-year prison term in New York Tuesday for sexually abusing a young girl.

Nechemya Weberman, who was convicted on 59 counts in December, now faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars, the New York Post reported.

Weberman started abusing the now-18-year-old woman when she was 12, the report said.

The case triggered turmoil in the tight-knit Satmar Hasidic sect, with Weberman's supporters pitted against those of the victim, who contended the community tried to ignore the abuse, the newspaper said.

"I clearly remember how I would look in the mirror and saw a girl who didn't want to live in her own skin," the victim testified at Weberman's trial.

"A girl who couldn't sleep at night because of the gruesome abuse that had been done to her body. A sad girl who wished so badly she could live a normal teenage life but instead was victimized by a 54-year-old man who forced her to perform sickening acts, again and again, for his sadistic pleasure."