Andrews demands abuse-case teacher Leifer face justice

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has called on Malka Leifer to return to Australia to face child-sex charges.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: AAP

Former school principal Malka Leifer will remain behind bars in Israel after her bid for bail was ­rejected, with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews calling on her to return to Australia to face child-sex charges.

Mr Andrews said yesterday it was “frustrating” that Ms Leifer, who has been charged with 74 counts of child sex abuse by Victoria Police and faced court for the 47th time on Monday, had yet to be extradited. “She should face the scrutiny, face the criminal justice system and get the justice she so richly deserves,” he said.

Ms Leifer was principal of the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick in Melbourne’s southeast when she was accused of sexually abusing female students in 2008. An ­Israeli-Australian dual ­national, she fled for Israel the night complaints were lodged against her, assisted by some members of the school community.

A Jerusalem court refused the transfer of Ms Leifer to house ­arrest on Monday after a judge rejected the assertion that her imprisonment was “life threatening”.

Judge Ram Winograd said Ms Leifer would remain in detention for the duration of the extradition hearings. “The respondent is under the medical supervision of the prison, and undergoes weekly psychiatric evaluations,” he said.

“There is no room to assume that the treatment in the prison was risking her life.”

Ms Leifer’s mental health was intensely scrutinised at the hearing after it was revealed last week that Israel’s Deputy Health Minister, Yaakov Litzman, was being investigated over allegations he had intervened in a medical opinion in a bid to prevent her extradition to Melbourne. Mr Litzman and Ms Leifer are both members of the ultra-Orthodox Gur sect.

A previous extradition attempt between 2014 and 2016 failed after Ms Leifer was admitted to mental institutions and experts determined she was not fit to stand trial.

Private investigators filmed Ms Leifer depositing a cheque at a bank and shopping, prompting ­Israeli authorities to launch a probe to see whether she was faking mental illness to avoid ­extradition, leading to her arrest in February last year.

On Monday, rabbi Yosef Direnfeld, from the ultra-Orthodox sect Belz, distributed letters at synagogues in Ashdod in central Israel that invoked the Jewish principle of “pidyon shvuyim”, which means redemption of the captives, in a fundraising ­attempt on behalf of Ms Leifer.

Elly Sapper, who along with her sisters Dassi Erlich and Nicole Meyer have accused Ms Leifer of sexual assault, said the orthodox community saw the former teacher as a victim of secular persecution. “They think these three girls, they’ve had a hard life and they’re making up a story,” she said. “Their community is so insular … they see this woman in prison, this Jewish grandmother, and they truly believe she’s not guilty.”

Melbourne rabbi James Kennard said the fundraising initiative was an abuse. “It’s outrageous … it is well documented in Jewish lore sources that pidyon shvuyim refers to a situation where someone is held hostage,” he said.

The extradition case will be heard on March 6.

Additional reporting: AFP