Manny Waks, a prominent advocate for victims of child sexual abuse in Jewish communities, has finally seen his abuser sentenced for assaults that occurred nearly four decades ago. Zev 'Velvel' Serebryanski, now 62, was given a suspended jail term at the Victorian County Court on Friday for sexually exploiting Waks at the Yeshiva Centre in Melbourne's southeast between 1986 and 1988.
The abuse took place when Waks was aged between 10 and 12 during the religious Shavuot festival. Serebryanski, then in his early 20s, cornered the boy upstairs, groped him, and then pulled him into a bathroom where he sexually assaulted him. In sentencing, Judge John Kelly described the actions as 'transgressive and predatory,' calling them 'an attack on innocence, an attack on childhood.'
Waks reported the abuse to police in 1996 and confronted Serebryanski at his home in Brooklyn, New York, in February 2017. During a recorded conversation, Serebryanski claimed he only wanted to do what the boy wanted, comments Judge Kelly described as 'damning and self-serving,' adding that any remorse was 'eroded by pedophilic justifications.'
The judge accepted that Serebryanski had served 99 days in a New York jail before being extradited to Melbourne in 2023 and noted his rehabilitation was largely complete due to the years without further convictions. Considering sentencing practices of the 1980s, and with prosecutors not opposing a partially suspended sentence, Judge Kelly jailed Serebryanski for three months, deemed as already served, with the remainder suspended for three years.
Waks told AAP he was unsurprised by the sentence but relieved the case was closed. 'It's about justice, accountability and prevention. From my perspective, I achieved those things,' he said, noting that both his abusers, Serebryanski and convicted rapist David Cyprys, have now been held to account. Serebryanski ignored reporters as he left court and will only return to prison if he reoffends within three years.
