CAMDEN – The Camden City School District and its advisory board president, Wasim Muhammad, will settle a child sexual abuse case for $2 million, according to an announcement from the plaintiff's lawyer.
Muhammad, who was known as city teacher Don Walker, was sued for allegedly sexually abusing a Hatch Middle School student beginning in 1991. TAPinto Camden is referring to the woman, now married and a mother, as "Jane Doe" because it does not disclose identities of sexual abuse victims.
Testimony during the trial showed a city school district employee at the time had seen Walker and Doe leaving his home during the school day but failed to report this to school authorities.
In mid-May, after a two-week jury trial in state Superior Court in Camden, a jury awarded $1.6 million in compensatory damages to Jane Doe. The jury on Monday was to begin deliberating on the amount of punitive damages that would be in addition to the $1.6 million.
After the May jury decision, Jane Doe's lawyer, Jeffrey P. Fritz, told TAPinto Camden that he believed that the city school district would be liable for the full $1.6 million. The punitive damages, added to the $1.6 million, would have specified how much Muhammad would need to pay and how much the school district would pay, he said.
Fritz said he did not know who among the district, the district's insurance company and Muhammad would be responsible for the $2 million under the settlement agreement.
Sheena M. Yera, the city school district's senior director of communications, media and external affairs, confirmed on Monday morning that an agreement had been reached, but said terms of the agreement would not be released until they are approved by all parties.
Yera said the district has no information on Muhammad returning to the district advisory board. The board's next meeting is Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Camden High School.
While the criminal statute of limitations has long since expired for the case, the 45-year-old woman who sued Muhammad and the district for damages did so under the New Jersey Child Victims Act, which opened a two-year window to file civil claims between December 2019 and November 2021.
"We express gratitude to the jury for their service, and I am relieved that my client can focus on her healing journey," Cherry Hill attorney Fritz, of the Philadelphia firm of Soloff & Zervanos, said of Doe on Monday.
"However, true healing cannot occur as long as Mr. Muhammad remains the Camden City School District Advisory Board President and the District does not reexamine its policies and training. His continued presence is a reminder of institutional failure and the urgent need for accountability," he said in a statement.
"We don't think he should continue," Fritz said of Muhammad in an interview Monday morning with TAPinto Camden. The lawyer said he would attend the Tuesday meeting of the board to speak.
Muhammad is now a Muslim minister in the city and has not appeared at board meetings during the trial proceedings.
Jane Doe now is an elementary school teacher living in Georgia, according to court records. She is married and the mother of three children.
As for the city school district, the lack of training to deal with sexual abuse and the silence of district employees after the abuse made it a “passive abuser” under the law, with Muhammad an alleged “active abuser,” Fritz has maintained.
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