Malka Leifer faked mental illness to avoid extradition on sex abuse allegations, court told

Disgraced principal Malka Leifer – who has been convicted of sexually abusing two sisters – faked mental illness to avoid extradition to Australia, prosecutors argue.

Former principal of the ultra-Orthodox Adass Israel School Malka Leifer. Picture: AFP

Former ultra-Orthodox Jewish principal Malka Leifer feigned mental illness to avoid extradition to Australia, prosecutors claim.

Leifer, the former principal of Adass Israel School, was in April found guilty of 18 charges relating to the sexual abuse of two sisters when they were students.

On the second day of a County Court pre-sentence hearing, Crown prosecutor Justin Lewis said Leifer, who fled to Israel when abuse allegations emerged, faked mental illness to avoid or delay extradition to Australia.

“We have a situation where three panels of psychiatrists conclude that the accused is feigning mental illness,” he said on Thursday, referencing psychological reports tendered to Israeli courts.

“It’s some sort of allergy to the legal proceedings themselves.”

Leifer was found guilty of 18 sexual abuse charges. Picture: Paul Tyquin

Mr Lewis asked Judge Mark Gamble to consider the finding when assessing how much time Leifer had spent in home detention as part of his sentence.

It comes after Leifer’s barrister Ian Hill KC earlier said his client was an “isolated, broken woman” and was on medication for anxiety and depression.

Mr Lewis told Thursday’s hearing the mother-of-eight was a “trusted educator” who used her position to facilitate abuse against her victims.

“These were particularly vulnerable victims who were preyed upon,” he said.

He added she had shown no remorse for her conduct and would be deported to Israel upon her release.

Mr Hill conceded his client’s crimes were “serious”, but said it had been 15 years since they took place and there had been no further charges.

Leifer fled to Israel in 2008, days after sexual abuse allegations emerged.

She was charged in 2014, sparking a years-long battle against extradition – a fact kept hidden from jurors – until she was brought back to Australia in 2021.

After a six-week trial, jurors found Leifer guilty of 18 charges including rape, indecent assault and sexual penetration of a child aged 16 or 17 against sisters Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper between 2003 and 2007.

She was cleared of nine charges, including all relating to the siblings’ older sister Nicole Meyer.

Leifer became principal of the Elsternwick school after arriving in Melbourne in 2001, until she was stood down following allegations of sexual abuse in 2008.

Earlier this month, police resumed an investigation into the school’s board over allegations it helped Leifer flee the country.

Leifer, who has spent 5½ years in custody in Australia and Israel, silently watched on as she appeared in court via video link from Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a maximum security women’s prison in Melbourne’s west.

She will be sentenced at a later date.

‘Torn apart’: Leifer victim had miscarriage days before conviction

A woman sexually abused by Malka Leifer had a miscarriage days before the former school principal was convicted and was unsure if stress contributed to the loss of her baby.

Leifer, the former principal of the ultra-Orthodox Adass Israel School, was found guilty of 18 sexual abuse charges against sisters Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper when they were students.

In an emotional victim statement read to the County Court on Wednesday, Ms Sapper confronted her abuser, saying her pregnancy provided her strength as she was “torn apart” under cross-examination.

But she revealed she had a miscarriage six days before the jury reached a verdict.

“There were no abnormalities,” she told the pre-sentence hearing.

“I will never know if the stress, the worry, the anxiety or the years of trauma played any part in the loss of my little girl.”

Sisters Elly Sapper, Nicole Meyer and Dassi Erlich speak outside the court on Wednesday. Picture: Ian Currie

Family and supporters seated in court wiped away tears as Ms Sapper spoke, while Leifer, 56, who appeared via video link from custody, showed little emotion.

“What can I do if all of this trauma has caused me to lose another baby,” she said.

“I am forced to inherit its pain and consequences for the rest of my life.”

Ms Sapper described how Leifer’s abuse had embedded trauma into “every fibre” of her being.

“It hurts to remember, it hurts more than I will ever be able to describe,” she said.

“It often feels that I am suffocating … other times I just feel empty.

Earlier, Ms Sapper’s sister Ms Erlich said Leifer had left her with a “legacy of pain” and she questioned whether the abuser was proud of the damage she had caused.

“I see no remorse,” she said.

“The insidious nature of her sexual abuse has fractured my ability to trust forever.”

Despite years of trauma that impacted all parts of her life, Ms Erlich said she refused to be defined by it and was determined to heal.

“Malka Leifer, you shattered my trust, stole my body and altered my life’s course,” she said.

“But you couldn’t break my spirit, today I stand as a survivor.

“Your darkness does not define me … I am so much more than the limitations you chose to impose on me.”

Leifer’s defence barrister Ian Hill KC told the court his client was once a respected educator and community leader but was now an “isolated, broken woman”.

He said Leifer was held in protective custody and isolated from her religion, as the only Jewish Orthodox woman in prison, and her family, who live overseas.

“That includes her husband … her eight children and her 17 grandchildren,” he said.

In April, jurors found Leifer, guilty of 18 charges including rape, indecent assault and sexual penetration of a child aged 16 or 17 against the two sisters between 2003 and 2007.

She was acquitted of nine charges including all relating to the siblings’ older sister Nicole Meyer.

Speaking outside of court, Ms Meyer said the not guilty verdict relating to her allegations denied validation for her pain.

“She took all that pure, innocent trust and twisted it to suit her own evil desires,” she said.

“Every part of my life from the day she arrived here in Australia to the day she fled to Israel has been times for her abuse, for manipulation, control and violation of my body and mind.”

Ms Meyer added she spoke for “countless survivors” whose voices were silenced by a “by a legal system that often falls short of delivering justice”.

“I see you, I feel for you and I believe you,” she said.

Leifer became principal of the Elsternwick school after arriving in Melbourne in 2001, until she was stood down following allegations of sexual abuse in 2008.

Days later she left for Israel, and when she was charged in 2014, she began a years-long battle against extradition before she was brought back to Victoria in 2021.

The sisters told the trial they were abused during private lessons on school campus, at Leifer’s home and on school camps.

Leifer, who has been in custody in Australia and Israel for more than five years, will be sentenced at a later date.