Convicted pedophile teacher Malka Leifer to seek leniency in sentencing

Former Adass Israel School principal Malka Leifer, found guilty of rape and sex assault charges, will seek a more lenient sentence by arguing about the “hardship” she’s suffered in prison.

Malka Leifer was found guilty of 18 rape and sexual assault charges against students at the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick.

Convicted pedophile teacher Malka Leifer is set to argue “hardship” she has experienced in prison and the threat of deportation to try to get a more lenient sentence.

Leifer will face a two-day pre-sentencing hearing in June after she was found guilty earlier this month of 18 rape and sexual assault charges against students at the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick.

Defence barrister Ian Hill KC on Wednesday told the County Court he would be making submissions as to the “hardship” Leifer had suffered while in custody.

He also raised the question of “what occurs to her” at the end of any fixed non-parole period “in terms of deportation, and whether the authorities will in fact grant her parole”.

That question paved the way for Leifer’s lawyers to argue whether she would get the benefit of parole, or instead have to serve out her maximum sentence before being deported.

But Judge Mark Gamble told the barrister he was heading “into the realms of speculation”.

Leifer, who was principal of the school that catered to Melbourne’s ultra-orthodox Jewish community, tuned into the hearing via video link from prison.

She did not speak, instead nodding her head to indicate she could hear the court, and held her hand across her mouth for the duration of the hearing.

Earlier this month, she was found guilty of sexually abusing sisters Dassi Elrich and Elly Sapper, and acquitted of abuse against eldest sister Nicole Meyer.

The trio was in court for the short administrative hearing on Wednesday, where lawyers set out a timetable for Leifer’s future matters.

Leifer’s potential deportation comes after a years-long fight to extradite her back to Australia from Israel, after she fled Melbourne upon learning of the sex abuse accusations in 2008.

She will return to the County Court to face a two-day plea hearing on June 28.