BROOKLYN — A 21-year-old woman who was sexually abused by a disgraced ex-NYPD officer for three years beginning when she was just 10 faced her tormentor before his sentencing in Brooklyn Supreme Court Wednesday — telling him his twisted acts have prevented her from ever having a loving relationship with a man.
The victim made the remarks before Justice Alan Marrus sentenced Jacob Sabbagh, 34, to three years in prison for groping and fondling her beginning in June 2005.
“He took my childhood away, my sense of security, just to get a little piece of me,” the woman said in her victim impact statement. “He stole all my teen years.”
“At 14 years old, everywhere I went, I thought of him,” she added. “In school, with friends, the park, at home in bed I cried myself to sleep thinking about it, regretting it. I became closed off, insecure, secretive, I couldn’t let anyone in, and I became uncomfortable and unlovable.”
Sabbagh was convicted earlier this year of second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child. He was immediately fired by the NYPD.
Prosecutors set up a controlled phone conversation between Sabbagh and the victim in which he admitted to the sexual abuse and apologized for his behavior.
"The defendant's shameful actions are a shocking betrayal of trust," Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson said. "That he went on to become a police officer makes this case all the more disturbing."
The victim didn't tell her parents about the abuse until she was 16, a year after they left the country. She said the day they moved still sticks with her.
“At 15 years old, the day my family was moving away, I saw him again,” she said. “I’d never been that scared — thinking he is here to do it again and he’s here to punish me. I wouldn’t leave my father’s side. For over a decade now, I have been dealing with his.”
“I am 21 years old now, and I have never befriended a man. I have been incapable of having a loving relationship with a man because of him,” she added. “So, please, when considering punishment, I ask the court to think of that little girl and not of one or two incidents but years of sexual abuse by Jacob Sabbagh."
