Malka Leifer’s ‘victim’ full of shame

A principal accused of abusing her students at school allegedly left a note for a cleaner with a master key not to enter her office at times, a court has heard.

Malka Leifer in 2006. The former Jewish school principal’s trial has resumed after two weeks of closed evidence. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Paul Tyquin

A principal accused of abusing her students at school allegedly left a note for a cleaner with a master key not to enter her office at times, a court has heard.

Mario Toledo, assisted by a Spanish interpreter, said in 2006 he saw former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer at the ultra-orthodox Adass Israel School most Sundays when she was ­usually accompanied by one or more female students, in­cluding someone he recognised as Nic­ole Meyer and sometimes with her sister Elly Sapper. Both women allege they are sexual assault victims of Ms Leifer, along with their third sister, Dassi Erlich; they have all given The Australian permission to identify them as complainants in the former principal’s criminal trial.

The trial resumed in open court on Monday after it was closed for a fortnight while the complainants gave evidence.

Asked if he ever noticed anything on Ms Leifer’s office door in the main school building, Mr Toledo responded “yes”.

“Because I was a cleaner, I have a master key (to) all the rooms and I remember seeing that on one or some of the doors there was a note that said Mario please don’t come in,” he told the court.

He said there was a room called “B5” which he needed to access on Sunday while cleaning.

“There was one occasion when I opened the door but she (Ms ­Leifer) pushed the door shut and told me not to come in,” he said.

A court sketch of Malka Leifer appearing before County Court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Paul Tyquin

He denied seeing other staff members at school on Sundays.

Earlier, the court heard Ms Sapper was so “full of shame” about what happened to her she had to text her psychologist, Vicki Gordon, details of the offending instead of using words to communicate it out loud.

Dr Gordon was asked if Ms Sapper was able to “speak freely” during their discussions, to which she replied “No … She was very embarrassed and full of shame”.

“There were times she would SMS me from inside my room because she couldn’t use the words,” Dr Gordon said.

The court heard Ms Sapper told Dr Gordon that Ms Leifer was “touching me in places all over my body” and she “never liked it from the beginning”.

“She could see this from the beginning but never listened,” Dr Gordon said reading from a summary. “She told me I needed it because I never had warmth and affection from home.” She agreed Ms Sapper “presented as a person with multifaceted problems”.

Ms Meyer’s psychiatrist, Lorraine Dennerstein, read a summary of notes about her client that said Ms Leifer groomed her when she was in year 12 and her offending escalated from touching her arms and shoulders to touching her breasts and genitals and ­raping her.

According to the summary, Ms Meyer said Ms Leifer told she was preparing her for marriage and told her not to tell anyone.

Ms Erlich’s former husband Josh Erlich told the court that during their relationship, Ms Erlich spoke of Ms Leifer in “glowing terms”. He and his wife met when he was 23 and she was 19, married in 2006 and separated about 2011. “(Ms Leifer) would help her a lot in dealing with her mother,” he said.

Ms Erlich told him when she spent the night at Ms Leifer’s house, “they would often lie in bed and talk to each other” and she viewed Ms Leifer as a “surrogate” mother.

Mr Erlich said they moved to Israel after they married, but Ms Erlich appeared to be anti-social and in a depressed state.

Ms Leifer has pleaded not guilty to 29 offences that allegedly took place between 2003 and 2007.

The trial continues.