Rage as city aims at sex vic’s payout

A QUEENS teenager who won a $16 million jury verdict against the city because her elementary school teacher had sexually abused her when she was 8 shot back after city Law Department officials signaled they may appeal the hefty award in the case.

In a Wednesday press conference held at the lower Manhattan office of her attorney, Neveah Thompson, 18, said Education Department officials should have known that former Public School 15 teacher Simon Watts was capable of assaulting her because other students had previously complained about his attacks.

Watts, 46, was convicted in 2013 of molesting five of his students from 2007 to 2009.

Thompson said complaints against Watts dating to 2004 should have prompted school officials to remove him from the classroom.

“They let Mr.Watts into a different school and let me down in the way of protecting me and keeping me safe,” Thompson said. “I felt like they didn’t want to take any responsibility.”

On Tuesday, a city Law Department spokesman said officials are “weighing their legal options” regarding the award to Thompson over her abuse at the Springfield Gardens school at the hands of Watts.