Because things aren’t depressing enough, a reminder that the horrors done to children are ongoing.

New York Hasidic counselor found guilty of repeatedly sexually abusing girl

A religious counselor in Brooklyn’s ultra-orthodox Jewish community was convicted Monday of the sustained sexual abuse of a girl who was sent to him with questions about her faith.

The courtroom was silent as Nechemya Weberman was convicted of 59 counts, including sustained sex abuse of a child, endangering the welfare of a child and other counts. He faces 25 years in prison on the top charge and two to seven years on the lesser charges.

The abuse of positions of trust is far too common with children. This is an especially heinous one, taking advantage of the trust that a religious community puts in its leader.

The victim testified that she and her family were harassed and shunned for coming forward; her father lost his business and her nieces were kicked out of school.

During the trial, which began last week, three men were charged with criminal contempt for snapping images of the accuser on the witness stand with cellphone cameras and posting them online. And before the trial began, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes charged other men with trying to bribe the accuser to drop the charges.

These men are utter cowards, and their misogynistic fanaticism is what enables the abuse and rape of young girls. I hope that this particular Hasidic community responds to this conviction with soul-searching and not with defensiveness. Sadly, I fear that will not be the case.