Australian court finds Malka Leifer guilty of rape, sexual abuse

 

Malka Leifer, the former principal of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, Australia was found guilty of rape and sexual abuse of children Monday.

After six weeks of hearings, a jury in the County Court of Victoria found the 56-year-old Leifer guilty on 18 of 27 counts of rape, indecent assault, child abuse, and other sex crimes, while dismissing 9 of the counts. Earlier, Leifer was acquitted of two other charges.

The charges stemmed from claims of rape and sexual abuse against three sisters – Elly Sapper, Dassi Erlich, and Nicole Meyer – from 2003 to 2007.

The jury found Leifer guilty on all counts with regards to the 18 charges against her pertaining to Elly Sapper and Dassi Erlich, and not guilty on all 9 of the charges linked to her alleged abuse of Nicole Meyer.

When an investigation was launched into the abuse of the three sisters in March 2008, Leifer, a dual Israeli-Australian citizen, fled the country, moving to the town of Emmanuel in Israel.

For years, Leifer evaded extradition, feigning mental illness in order to be declared unfit to stand trial.

While a Jerusalem court ruled in 2016 that Leifer was not fit for extradition, a private investigator later proved that Leifer had deceived the court.

In July 2019, a panel of medical experts working for the court found Leifer fit to strand trial, with a the court ratifying the decision in May 2020.

After nearly 13 years abroad, in 2021, Leifer was finally extradited to Australia.

The County Court of Victoria will reconvene on Leifer's case on April 26th to set a date for the sentencing.