AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail
Student granted $1 million payout from Jewish school after suing them for ‘covering up’ the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of their female principal
By LOUISE CHEER and EMILY CRANE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA and AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
A woman who was sexually abused as a student at a Melbourne Orthodox Jewish school has been awarded more than $1.2 million in damages.
Now aged in her 20s, the woman was allegedly abused by former Adass Israel School headmistress Malka Leifer at the teacher’s home, at school camps and on school grounds between 2003 and 2006.
When he handed down his judgement in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Justice John Rush said Ms Leifer had exploited the student and it was ‘deplorable’ the school helped the teacher leave Australia when the abuse became known.
Ms Leifer fled to Israel after she was accused of sexually abusing students at the Elsternwick school, in Melbourne’s south-east, when she was principal.
For the former educator’s ‘monstrous’ conduct, Justice Rush ruled she pay $150,000-worth of damages to her victim.
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