Girls’ School Principal ‘exploiting Israeli Law’ to Evade Sex Charges

By Katherine Towers
The Australian
January 21, 2016

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Family friends of a Melbourne woman sexually molested by her school headmistress have accused the former principal of seeking to exploit the Israeli justice system to avoid being extradited to Australia.

A family friend of the victim, has accused serial sex offen­der Malka Leifer of manipulating a Jerusalem court and exploiting legal loopholes to avoid charges of sexually abusing female students while principal of the ultra-orthodox Adass Israel School in Melbourne.

“We know their lawyer insisted from the start she will never come to Australia,” said the friend who asked not to be named. The friend believes Ms Leifer is attempting to “exploit the justice system and foil the extradition.”

The accusations come after another failed attempt by Aus­tralian authorities to have the Jerusalem District Court hear an application to extradite Ms Leifer, a mother of eight, to Victoria on more than 70 child sex offence charges.

She is under house arrest in the ultra-orthodox enclave of Bnei Brak in central Israel after fleeing Australia in the middle of the night following revelations she had sexually abused more than eight Jewish girls at the school.

Despite extradition proceedings being launched more than 12 months ago, Ms Leifer has avoided all court hearings ­because “panic attacks” were stopping her from attending.

Lawyers for Ms Leifer have ­applied to the court to reject the application because of her mental health.

The Jerusalem District Court has heard evidence from mental health doctors claiming her panic attacks were genuine and the ­result of the extreme pressure of the court hearing.

Victim advocates have called on the court to hear the application at Ms Leifer’s home or via video link to avoid the stress of appearing in a courtroom.

The Times of Israel reported that the court has released a statement saying those options are not viable as a “hearing cannot be held in the presence of Malka Leifer … No (tranquillising pill) can help (calm her down) before a court hearing”.

Last year, one of her victims received one of Australia’s biggest payouts for such abuse when the Victorian Supreme Court awarded her more than $1.2 million.

Judge Jack Rush found the girl had been sexually abused and preyed upon by Ms Leifer from the ages of 15 to 18 at the school in Melbourne’s southeast.

He was scathing of the behaviour of school board members, whom he accused of helping to squirrel Ms Leifer out of the country.

Victoria Police launched an investigation into the action of Adass Israel School board members, who could face criminal charges for impeding an investigation.

A police spokeswoman said yesterday that the investigation “remains ongoing”.

The Israeli-based group acting for the victims says the delay in forcing Ms Leifer to return to Australia to face the charges had become “intolerable” for victims, who were angry and frustrated with the alleged delaying tactics.

Head of the Israel National Council for the Child Yitzhak Kadman warned that Israel could become a haven for Jewish paedophiles fleeing authorities in other jurisdictions if the Leifer extradition application was thrown out of court.

The Jerusalem District Court will decide on the extradition ­application next month.