Australian Headmistress Accused of Sexual Abuse Deemed Unfit to Stand Extradition Trial by Israeli Judge

By Aimee Amiga
Haaretz
May 08, 2016

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/.premium-1.718579

Extradition proceedings against an Australian woman accused of sexually abusing students at an ultra-Orthodox girls' school were halted Sunday, after a judge in Israel ruled her unfit to stand trial.

The move imposes a significant delay on an already-prolonged effort to extradite Malka Leifer, a former headmistress at Adass Israel School, who stands to face 74 counts of indecent assault and rape in Australia, brought against her by three former students of the school, located in the Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick.

Using her Israeli passport, Leifer fled to Israel in 2008, shortly after the allegations of sexual misconduct arose. She was taken into custody in Israel in 2014 at the request of Australian authorities, and released to house arrest in September that year.

Extradition proceedings were meant to begin the following month, but have been delayed some eight times, including for Leifer's psychiatric hospitalization.

At a hearing Sunday morning at the Jerusalem District Court, Judge Amnon Cohen said that after having received the "unequivocal professional opinion" from a state-appointed psychiatrist, the sides have agreed to halt extradition proceedings against Leifer, citing a law that permits stopping proceedings when a defendant is deemed unfit to stand trial.