Jury hears opening arguments in sex abuse civil trial against Camden school board president, what lawyers called a ‘he say, she say’ case

A jury in the civil sex abuse trial of Camden advisory school board President Wasim Muhammad, accused of sexually abusing a former student, will have to decide a “he say, she say,” case, lawyers said Tuesday.

In opening arguments in Superior Court in Camden, lawyers presented to an eight-member jury strikingly different portraits of Muhammad and his relationship with his student, listed as Jane Doe in her lawsuit. The Inquirer is not identifying her because it does not name victims in sexual assault cases without their consent.

Muhammad, known more than 30 years ago as Donnie Walker, began having sex with his former student in 1994 when she was 13 and he was her social studies teacher at Cooper B. Hatch Middle School, said the plaintiff’s lawyer, Jeffrey Fritz. The alleged sexual continued for years, he said.

Then a seventh-grader, she was groomed by Muhammad and trained to follow his rules and to deny any suspicions if questioned, Fritz said. The sexual abuse occurred before, during and after school, he said.

“He violated her sexually in every possible way,” Fritz told the jury.

His client wept and dabbed her eyes with tissues. Her husband and daughter sat in a row behind her. Fritz said she suffers from post-traumatic distress disorder.

Muhammad has denied the allegations.

In his opening arguments, defense attorney Troy Archie described Muhammad as a respected community leader and a minister in the Nation of Islam. He has served on the school advisory board since 2013 and has been president since 2020. He took a leave of absence in January pending the outcome of the case.

“He’s here to fight,” Archie said, pointing to Muhammad in court. “He did not commit these acts that she’s saying. It’s ‘he say, she say,’ and then a whole lot of a lack of evidence.”

» READ MORE: Sexual abuse civil trial against Camden school board president is postponed; public to be barred from proceedings

The dispute is a classic example of conflicting stories between two parties, said Jessica Anderson, a lawyer representing the Camden City School District, also named as a defendant. The lawsuit contends the district was negligent and reckless and failed to protect the student.

Even after filing the lawsuit, the former student, now 45 and married with three children, continued to contact Muhammad, Anderson said. In recent months, she also liked his Facebook posts, she said.

Muhammad contends he married the girl under the Muslim faith when she turned 18, and she lived with him for about 10 months. Muhammad has four Islamic wives and one legal wife.

“Whatever she says happened, happened when she was an adult,” Archie said.

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Archie said at least two of Muhammad’s wives are expected to testify in the trial, expected to last about two weeks. Several wives were in court Tuesday, along with some of Muhammad’s 17 children.

Fritz denied his client, who was raised as a Muslim, was married to Muhammad. According to a pre-trial deposition, the former student said she engaged in a threesome with Muhammad and one of his wives.

Growing up in the city’s Parkside neighborhood, she was a typical teenager who enjoyed hanging out with her friends, listening to music and watching movies, Fritz said. He flashed a childhood photo of her on the screen for the jury.

Like other girls at Hatch, she had a crush on Muhammad, a popular teacher and former Camden High championship basketball team star, Fritz said. He flirted with the student and she flirted back, he said.

Muhammad complimented the girl and told her that she was beautiful, Fritz said. He would get her excused from class, along with two friends, and have them report to his classroom to mark papers and clean his blackboard, he said.

Eventually, the alleged sexual activity began and continued when the girl enrolled in nearby Camden High School as a freshman, Fritz said. The sexual activity continued when the girl moved to the South with her family, and Muhammad visited and signed her out of school, he said.

A former Hatch teacher saw the girl leaving Muhammad’s home during school hours, and Muhammad followed a second or two later, Fritz said. The teacher failed to report what she saw, which should have been a red flag, he said.

“Schools must protect children, especially against one of their own,” Fritz told the jury.

The lawsuit was filed under a state law passed in 2019 that allows victims of child sexual abuse to sue their abusers up until they turn 55. The woman tried to lodge criminal charges in 2020, but the statute of limitations had expired.

“If you sexually abuse someone, you must pay for the harm,” Fritz told the jury. “The only way to do that is through money.”

Said Archie: “That’s what this is about — money.”

Testimony in the case before Judge John Kennedy is scheduled to begin Wednesday.