Israeli orthodox children’s book author Chaim Walder, who was accused of sexual abuse by several teenage girls, was found dead on Monday in a suspected suicide. 

Walder’s body was found in a cemetery in Petah Tikva just before 1 PM. A passerby heard a gunshot and called police, as per Times of Israel. Local media reports suggest that the children’s book author died by suicide and was found next to the grave of his son, who died several years ago of cancer. 

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Chaim Walder had threatened to take his life over the revelation of accusations against him.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Sunday reported that 22 young women had testified against Walder at a rabbinical court in Safed. The sexual abuse incidents date as far back as 25 years and as recently as six months ago. 

Walder was a columnist, radio host, teacher, public speaker and the author of the children’s book series ‘Kids Speak’. The 53-year-old also worked as a therapist. He was awarded with the ‘protector of the child’ award in 2003. 

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Several women accused him of initiating sexual relationships with them when they approached him for counseling, according to Haaretz.

“It is too bad he chose this path, we had offered him the option to fix what he had broken. To apologize to his victims. To change his ways. To ensure that no more women would be harmed,” the head of that court, Sefad Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, said in a statement Monday reported in Israeli media.

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“We send strength to the many victims in these difficult times, their lives precede his life.”

Last month, Walder announced that he as stepping away from public life to clear his name. His books were removed from the shelves of the Osher Ad supermarket chain and the Jewish bookstore Eichler’s Judaica of Borough Park.