Teacher charged in sex abuse will be allowed to attend church
Aug. 8—SALEM — The former Saltonstall School gym teacher under indictment for the sexual abuse of 10 girls while he worked at the Salem school will be allowed to leave his home each Sunday morning to attend an unnamed Methuen church, a judge ordered on Monday.
Daniel Hakim, 36, of North Andover, was indicted in June on 32 counts of indecent assault and battery on children, indictments alleging that between 2015 and 2018, he engaged in numerous instances of touching girls inappropriately, both under and over their clothing, on their breasts, genitals and buttocks, or hugging them inappropriately. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The 10 girls were in the first, second and third grades at the Saltonstall, a K-8 school on Lafayette Street.
Hakim's family posted $200,000 bail in the case the week after his arraignment in Salem Superior Court, where a judge ordered him to remain on house arrest, except for court and medical emergencies. He is monitored by a GPS ankle bracelet.
On Monday, Hakim, accompanied by his wife, appeared in Salem Superior Court with his new attorney, David Yannetti, who asked that Hakim also be allowed to attend religious services.
Judges typically grant such requests and the prosecutor handling the case, Anne Marie Gochis, did not object.
But when Judge Kathleen McCarthy Neyman asked the name of the church, Yannetti hesitated, asking if he could disclose that privately, out of earshot of the courtroom.
Neyman declined to hear that information privately, but then agreed to characterize it only as "religious services" at a "Methuen location."
Hakim will be allowed to leave his North Andover home at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays and must return by 1 p.m. — but Neyman ordered that he only go to and from the church during that window of time.
"You can't just go to brunch or something," Neyman told him.
Yannetti told the judge that he intends to file a motion seeking to dismiss the charges; he did not indicate the specific grounds for his request but was told to file that motion by October.
Neyman scheduled a hearing on the motion for Nov. 10.
Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@salemnews.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis
Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@salemnews.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis
