The Central District Court in Lod sentenced former teacher Roi Shaar to seven-and-a-half years in prison after convicting him of carrying out indecent acts over a period of years against eight minor pupils, most of them under 16, while serving as their educator at a religious elementary school.
In a ruling cleared for publication, Senior Judge Michal Brant also ordered Shaar to pay NIS 290,000 in compensation to the victims.
Shaar was convicted after a full evidentiary trial of multiple indecent acts committed without the pupils’ consent more than a decade ago, during the years he worked as a teacher and homeroom educator.
The judgment describes a pattern of serial abuse that unfolded over roughly six years, in some cases on a weekly and even daily basis, during class time, at school, and in private lessons conducted on school grounds.
Shaar cultivated the image of being a loving and admired educator
According to the court, Shaar cultivated the image of being a loving and admired educator through games, rewards, a distinctive teaching method, unusual personal attention, and what was described as a fatherly interest in certain children.
Against that backdrop, the court found that he blurred boundaries and normalized conduct in a way that prevented the children from understanding in real time that they were being sexually harmed.
The ruling details that the abuse included repeatedly seating pupils on his lap and touching their genitals.
The court found that Shaar exploited the trust placed in him by both the students and the educational system, as well as the age gap and his authority as a teacher. The abuse stopped only after the pupils finished their studies.
In its sentencing analysis, the court stressed the prolonged and systematic nature of the offenses, the number of victims, and the institutional breach that occurs when harm is inflicted by a teacher within an educational framework.
It also cited the long-term impact described by the complainants, including harm to their sense of safety, trust, and identity, as well as to later relationships. One victim statement included in the ruling describes wounds that did not remain in the past but continued to shape the victim’s body, mind, and ability to trust others.
At the same time, the court said it also considered Shaar’s personal circumstances, including that he is now 43, a father of four, and has no prior criminal record.
But it held that those factors could not outweigh the gravity of the offenses, particularly given their repetition over the years and the vulnerability of the children involved.
The prosecution had asked the court to impose a double-digit sentence of 10 years. The court ultimately imposed seven-and-a-half years in prison, along with a suspended sentence and compensation that ranges from NIS 20,000 to NIS 40,000 per victim, for a total of NIS 290,000.
In a statement following the ruling, Central District Prosecutor’s Office attorney Shira Harlap said the court had accepted the state’s position that Shaar caused “severe and prolonged” harm not only to the minors but also to the sense of security of the parents who entrusted their children to an educational institution.
Harlap also said the case reflected the way sexual abuse could remain unreported for years, particularly in a religious community where discussion of sex and sexual harm may carry social taboo.
She said the victims “bore the price of silence,” continued studying while being harmed, and were later fully believed by the court after testifying with what she described as great courage.
A publication ban remains in place on any detail that could lead to the identification of the victims.