GUILTY Australia - Malka Leifer: Principal accused of 74 child sex charges, arrest in 2016

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Malka Leifer: Australian principal accused of 74 child sex charges walks free in Israel
By Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill and Fouad Abu-Ghosh
ABC News 24
Updated 47 minutes ago (as at 10:15 AEST 3/6/2016


Photo:

Malka Leifer is wanted by Victorian police on 74 charges of indecent assault and rape. Supplied


Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/6623480-3x2-700x467.jpg

'The former principal of an ultra-Orthodox girls school in Melbourne has been ruled mentally unfit to face extradition and had her home detention lifted in a move that has shocked and deeply concerned Australian officials.

Key points:

• Judge rules Malka Leifer unfit to face extradition

• She is wanted by Victorian police for charges of indecent assault, rape

• Leifer's house arrest will be lifted

• Victims disappointed by move


A Jerusalem judge has ruled that Malka Leifer is not mentally fit to face extradition proceedings to Australia.

Leifer is wanted by Victorian police on 74 charges of indecent assault and rape allegedly involving girls at the Adass Israel School in Melbourne.

In 2008, after accusations were first raised against her, the former principal fled to Israel with her family in the middle of the night, allegedly with the help of senior members of Melbourne's secretive Adass community.

For two years, she has managed to evade 10 extradition proceedings, claiming that she faces panic attacks whenever scheduled court dates arise and that she is too unwell to attend court.

On Thursday, a long-awaited report from the district psychiatrist agreed she was mentally unwell and Judge Amnon Cohen ruled she would not face an extradition hearing until she had completed psychiatric treatment that could go on for years.

Her house arrest in Israel will be lifted, allowing her to walk free for the first time since she was arrested by Israeli police at the request of Australia in August 2014.

However, the Israeli prosecutor's office has been given 72 hours to appeal the lifting of the house arrest and the ABC understands it will do this.'

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-...ed-of-74-child-sex-charges-walks-free/7473246
 
Ms Lefier left Australia in 2008 - to go to Israel. About the Melbourne AUS "Adass community" Ms Leifer came from. Snipping from 2008 link, w my bolding.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/natio...-proud-to-be-so/2008/03/13/1205126111234.html

"Melbourne's Adass community is secretive and reclusive. That's how its members like it, writes Barney Zwartz.THEY could be called the Amish of the Jewish community: ultra-orthodox, ultra-reclusive and ultra-strict. On the Jewish Sabbath and holy days, the men of Melbourne's Adass community stand out with their tall fur hats and long, black silk coats, while the women usually cover their heads with a scarf or hat.

... no children's stories in which boys and girls are friends, no sex education before marriage — and almost no drop-outs from the community. The strict seclusion works."

"The community of about 150 families is almost entirely self-sufficient, with its own kindergartens, schools, doctors, butcher, baker, circumciser and cemetery. Most are not rich, and families tend to be large. Most have six children and some have 13 or 14."

"...much stricter in the past 10 years under spiritual leader Rabbi Avrohom Zvi Beck, and the younger members were more fanatical in their religious observance than their parents.
"Walking, we are supposed to gaze at the ground, looking up only enough for safety, because we might look at a woman."
 
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/principal-molested-schoolgirls/2008/03/13/1205126111228.html also dated 2008. Be sure to click thru to page 2.

ETA
"
Parents of present and past students said Mrs Leifer had molested students at school, at her home and probably at school camps. They said one victim had attempted suicide.The parents, who would not be named, said that Mrs Leifer would share her bed with different students when her rabbi husband was away. She would tell the students she was scared, although she had five children, aged five to 12, in the house."

"One parent told The Age that Mrs Leifer, who is believed to be in her late 40s, was hand-picked from Israel to teach at the girls' school eight years ago, not because of her teaching abilities but for her ultra-orthodox beliefs. The parent said she was widely regarded as the second holiest person in the community, behind spiritual leader Rabbi Avrohom Zvi Beck."
 
Ms Lefier left Australia in 2008 - to go to Israel. About the Melbourne AUS "Adass community" Ms Leifer came from. Snipping from 2008 link, w my bolding.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/natio...-proud-to-be-so/2008/03/13/1205126111234.html

"Melbourne's Adass community is secretive and reclusive. That's how its members like it, writes Barney Zwartz.THEY could be called the Amish of the Jewish community: ultra-orthodox, ultra-reclusive and ultra-strict. On the Jewish Sabbath and holy days, the men of Melbourne's Adass community stand out with their tall fur hats and long, black silk coats, while the women usually cover their heads with a scarf or hat.

... no children's stories in which boys and girls are friends, no sex education before marriage — and almost no drop-outs from the community. The strict seclusion works."

"The community of about 150 families is almost entirely self-sufficient, with its own kindergartens, schools, doctors, butcher, baker, circumciser and cemetery. Most are not rich, and families tend to be large. Most have six children and some have 13 or 14."

"...much stricter in the past 10 years under spiritual leader Rabbi Avrohom Zvi Beck, and the younger members were more fanatical in their religious observance than their parents.
"Walking, we are supposed to gaze at the ground, looking up only enough for safety, because we might look at a woman."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/principal-molested-schoolgirls/2008/03/13/1205126111228.html also dated 2008. Be sure to click thru to page 2.

ETA
"
Parents of present and past students said Mrs Leifer had molested students at school, at her home and probably at school camps. They said one victim had attempted suicide.The parents, who would not be named, said that Mrs Leifer would share her bed with different students when her rabbi husband was away. She would tell the students she was scared, although she had five children, aged five to 12, in the house."

"One parent told The Age that Mrs Leifer, who is believed to be in her late 40s, was hand-picked from Israel to teach at the girls' school eight years ago, not because of her teaching abilities but for her ultra-orthodox beliefs. The parent said she was widely regarded as the second holiest person in the community, behind spiritual leader Rabbi Avrohom Zvi Beck."

Thanks for the background information. Almost cult-like IMO.
 
Malka Leifer: Bid to keep alleged paedophile off Israeli streets fails, bail returned
By Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill and Fouad Abu-Gosh
ABC News online
Updated Wed 8 Jun 2016, 6:25 AM AEST

'Israel's state prosecutor has failed in a bid to see Malka Leifer, the former principal of an ultra-Orthodox girls school in Melbourne, returned to house arrest in Israel.'

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-...-alleged-paedophile-off-streets-fails/7488576
 
Malka Leifer 'manipulated us': Alleged paedophile who preyed on secretive Jewish community
By Sophie McNeill
Posted Thu 7 Apr 2016, 5:32 PM AEST
(Updated Fri 8 Apr 2016, 12:11 AM AEST)

'Somewhere in an ultra-Orthodox enclave of Israel, former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer continues to evade extradition to face criminal charges in Australia. Now one of her alleged victims speaks out for the first time.'

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-...melbourne's-secretive-adass-community/7306950
 
PM to push Israel for extradition of ex-principal accused of abusing girls
Steve Lillebuen
The Age
6 hours ago (as at 17:46 AEDT 23 Ictober 2017)

‘Pressure has been ramped up against Israel to deal with the long-stalled extradition of former Melbourne principal Malka Leifer, who fled Australia nearly a decade ago after being accused of sexually abusing her students.

Fairfax Media has been told that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will directly raise the issue with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu during high-level talks in Jerusalem next week.’

Read more at:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/p...accused-of-abusing-girls-20171022-gz62n9.html
 
Malka Leifer: Ultra-orthodox Jewish community Adass Israel investigated over accused principal's escape
7.30 BY LOUISE MILLIGAN
UPDATED 47 MINUTES AGO (as at 18:01 AEDT 23 October 2017)

‘Victoria Police has confirmed it is investigating members of Melbourne's ultra-orthodox Jewish community, Adass Israel, after community leaders allegedly assisted a school principal to escape to Israel in the dead of night when they became aware she had been accused of abusing girls in her care.

Key points:


  • Malka Leifer accused of molesting girls at the school where she was principal
  • Police investigating the Adass Israel community leaders who helped her leave the country
  • Alleged victim, Dassi Erlich, travelling to Israel to lobby for Leifer's extradition
  • Malcolm Turnbull says he will raise it when he visits Israel next week

Malka Leifer fled to Israel in March 2008 after a psychologist made it known to leaders of the Adass Israel congregation that Dassi Erlich, a former pupil at the community's girl school, had made complaints of sexual assault — including rape — against Ms Leifer.

She is one of at least eight, possibly 15, alleged victims.

Seventy-four charges have been laid against Ms Leifer by Victoria Police.

Ms Erlich, 30, spoke to 7.30 ahead of arriving in Israel today with her sisters, also Ms Leifer complainants, to lobby Israel to allow Ms Leifer to leave the ultra-orthodox community she is being housed in and be extradited to Australia.

"I want to achieve justice, I want to achieve a growing awareness about this case," Ms Erlich told 7.30.’

Read more at:

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-...s-jewish-community-on-abuse-principal/9071604

7.30 (segment will be uploaded here after program airs):

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/
 
Former Adass Israel Jewish girls' school principal Malka Leifer evades extradition hearings
ABC News
BY MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT SOPHIE MCNEILL
UPDATED 2 MINUTES AGO (as at 20:02 AEDT 30 January 218)

‘An Israeli principal wanted on child sexual abuse charges in Australia has once again successfully claimed mental incompetence to Israeli authorities and will evade extradition hearings for another six months.’

‘Last week, Ms Leifer convinced another psychiatrist review board in Israel that she was too unwell to face an extradition hearing.

Ms Leifer has avoided every single one of her extradition hearings in the last three years, claiming she suffers from panic attacks and anxiety.

This is despite evidence uncovered by her victims that she has been spotted out and about in Israel attending religious festivals and going about her normal life.

Ms Leifer's victims were notified overnight by Israeli authorities of the devastating news.’

‘A Federal Government spokesperson told the ABC "the Government will continue to advocate for the extradition of Malka Leifer, so she finally faces justice in Australia".

Meanwhile, shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said Labor would also continue to press for the extradition of Ms Leifer.’

Read more at:

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-...li-principal-leifa-evades-extradition/9376112
 
Former Melbourne principal on child sex charges to remain in custody as Israeli court hears appeal

By Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill
Updated March 09, 2018 15:56:27

Former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer will remain in custody until an Israeli Supreme Court judge considers an appeal to stop her being released to home detention
On Wednesday, the Jerusalem district court ruled that Ms Leifer could be released from police custody on Friday March 9 at 10:00am, after influential Israeli Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman argued it was "humiliating" and bad for her mental health to stay in jail.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-...fer-to-remain-in-custody-until-appeal/9530528
 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-...-from-malka-leifer-case-after-outrage/9540900

Influential Rabbi withdraws support for alleged child abuser Malka Leifer after community outrage
Updated March 12, 2018 23:15:41


After community outrage over Rabbi Yitzhak Grossman's support for alleged child abuser Malka Leifer, the influential Israeli religious figure says he is "completely withdrawing" his involvement in the case.

[h=2]Key points:[/h]
  • Rabbi Grossman had argued police custody was "humiliating" and bad for Ms Leifer's mental health
  • He now says it is inappropriate for him to be involved
  • Ms Leifer is waiting on the outcome of an appeal to decide if she will be allowed to live under house arrest

 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-in-israel-while-awaiting-extradition-outcome

Former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer, who is accused of child sex crimes, will remain behind bars after a successful appeal against her release to home detention in an Israeli court.

An Israeli judge had said Leifer could be released to home detention earlier this month after a rabbi offered to take care of her while she awaited an extradition outcome. But he later withdrew his support for Leifer to be released on house arrest days later.

Victorian police want to bring the 54-year-old, who was arrested in Israel in February, back to Australia to face 74 charges of child sexual abuse.

Leifer had been ordered to stay in police custody in a medical facility while the supreme court considered the prosecution’s appeal against her release to home detention.

Dassi Erlich, who has accused Leifer of abusing her, posted on her Facebook pagethat “Malka Leifer is to remain arrested and has not been granted bail” after the supreme court accepted the appeal.
“The supreme court’s ruling to keep Malka Leifer detained until the conclusion of extradition, is a positive step forward,” she said in a media statement.
“It addresses the concern of many that she is a flight risk and a possible danger to others. This ruling will also hopefully limit the stalling tactics of the defence because their client is now siting in prison awaiting a decision for extradition.
“We feel strengthened and encouraged by this successful appeal and await the next step in this lengthy road towards justice.”

Manny Waks, an advocate for Kol v’Oz, a Jewish organisation combating child sex abuse, said justice had prevailed and “sanity has been restored to both Malka Leifer and the Israeli judicial system”.
“Now that she is incarcerated, hopefully the extradition process will be swift, and we can finally see Leifer face justice in Australia,” he said in a statement on Monday.

“Today is a great day for many people, not least Leifer’s courageous alleged victims.”

Her extradition is the subject of a separate court case.
 
Inside the insular Jewish community where school headmistress allegedly preyed on girls

Mother-of-eight Malka Leifer looked like the perfect school principal until she was accused of being a sexual predator. This is the story of three sisters' battle to bring their alleged abuser to justice.

ABC News
Updated about 2 hours ago [as at 09:22 AEST 23 April 2018]

‘It wasn't a happy home, but the sisters have decided they need to see it again. Dassi Erlich and Nicole Meyer pause outside the North Caufield art deco era bungalow where they lived as children and point to the flower beds that once preoccupied their mother. They step up then, into the portico entrance flanked by white columns, and into the house.

The current owner of the Sapper household where the sisters grew up has allowed them to visit with ABC's Australian Story so they can try to understand their past. Some memories confuse them: the backyard seems much smaller than they recall it. But, after all, when they lived here with their five other siblings, they were just children.

They move around the rooms, shaking their heads. Nicole is carrying her phone aloft and showing the house to their youngest sister, Elly, who joins them via Skype.

Memories from childhood flood back. How they would walk on egg shells lest they upset their controlling, angry mother who terrified them with her punishments. Dassi asks her sisters to go to the cupboard under the stairs. "I just remember it being so dark," says Dassi, now 30.

As she opens the wooden door, it squeaks. "Not such great memories," says Nicole, 32. "That cupboard brought back memories which I prefer not to talk about. Very, very, significant memories," Elly, 29, says.

The sisters refuse to expand on what happened inside the dark cupboard under the stairs. They agree though, that their home life as the children of parents who were members of Melbourne's ultra-orthodox Adass Israel community made them susceptible to dark forces that they were ill-prepared to understand or resist. "There was neglect emotionally and that would have left us vulnerable prey for anyone who would show any form of affection or care in any form," Nicole says.

At the Adass Israel Girls School at one point or another, each of the sisters thought they had found affection with principal Malka Leifer, a mother-of-eight who was employed by the school from Israel in 2000. Now, for the first time, Dassi, Nicole and Elly have come together publicly to talk about the sexual abuse they allege Malka Leifer committed against them, as they continue their international campaign to have her extradited from Israel to face 74 child sex abuse charges in Australia.

But the path they have chosen is far from simple .The sisters have had to deal with the reality of their past — a difficult home life, the emotional fallout of the alleged abuse and estrangement from their parents.’

Click on the headline (above) to read more.

Australian Story's The Justice Principle two-part investigation starts Monday April 23 on ABC TV and ABC iview.
 
There are several issues. One, this “Rabbi” who is seeking pity for this disgusting excuse for a human being/mother/teacher has done the same in the past. He has supported convicted child molesters from the frum (ultra orthodox) community. He has gone against rabbis greater than himself. He should be in a jail cell, himself.

Second, the orthodox have a lot of pull when it comes to gov’t and politics in Israel. Its not very simple.

Lastly, pedophilia and the cover up are a HUGE problem in thiese small,insulated communities. They have almost no interaction with the outside world.

Kudos to these strong women who are fighting for justice.
 
The undercover operation to bring alleged paedophile principal Malka Leifer to justice
AUSTRALIAN STORY
BY BELINDA HAWKINS AND SARAH FARNSWORTH UPDATED ABOUT AN HOUR AGO [as at 13:15 AEST 30 April 2018]

‘The time stamp states it is 08:12:13 on December 18, 2017, and the person recording appears to be walking through a small convenience store in Immanuel, Israel.

The picture is unsteady. Shelves stacked with random household items flash past on an angle until a man sitting at the cashier's till comes into shot along with a number of ultra-orthodox Jewish men.

Slowly, the jerky vision settles on a woman standing in an aisle and chatting to the cashier as she buys a loaf of bread and a container of biscuits.

It is Malka Leifer, the former principal of the ultra-orthodox Jewish Adass Israel Girls School in Melbourne, who is wanted on 74 charges of child sexual abuse in Australia.

The footage, airing nationally for the first time on Australian Story, was captured during a secret surveillance operation to help Melbourne-based Dassi Erlich and her two sisters, Nicole and Elly, bring Ms Leifer to justice.’

To read more, click on the headline (above).

Watch part two of Australian Story's The Justice Principle at 8:00pm on ABCTV and ABC iview.
 
Malka Leifer's lawyer secures two-week delay in extradition case

By Norman Hermant and Fouad Abu Ghosh in Jerusalem
Updated May 03, 2018 06:28:10

An Israeli judge has issued another extension of the extradition case of Malka Leifer, the Australian-Israeli accused of sexually abusing girls at a Jewish school in Melbourne more than a decade ago.
Ms Leifer will return to court on May 16, after her lawyer Yehuda Fried successfully argued the defence still had not seen all of the evidence against her.
The prosecution agreed to turn over all of the evidence from the investigation into whether Ms Leifer was lying about being too unwell psychologically to stand trial.
Australia has been seeking Ms Leifer's extradition since 2014.



http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-02/malka-leifer-fronts-jerusalem-court-obstruction-of-justice-case/9720480
 
Malka Leifer extradition case delayed again at latest hearing in Jerusalem

16/05/2018

There has been another delay in the extradition case of accused Australian-Israeli sex offender Malka Leifer.

At the latest hearing in Jerusalem, Ms Leifer was transported from Nave Tirtsa women's prison to the District Court building. But her lawyer convinced the judge she should remain in cells below and not appear in the courtroom.

After winning a two-week delay on May 2, Ms Leifer's lawyer, Yehuda Fried, was successful in seeking another extension.

Ms Leifer's legal team argued they still had not seen enough of the prosecution's evidence. "I think this is just another way to make the procedure longer," state prosecutor Matan Akiva said.

The case will resume on May 31, when the judge will rule whether enough of the evidence against Ms Leifer has been handed over.

Ms Leifer's lawyer also argued that his client is being treated with psychiatric drugs in prison.

Mr Fried told the judge this is an indication that she is mentally unwell and not capable of appearing for an extradition hearing.

The judge ordered yet another psychiatric assessment of Ms Leifer. The results will be reported to the court on May 31.

Australian-Israeli victims rights advocate Manny Waks said the results were disappointing.

"It is difficult, especially for her alleged victims who are waiting for news," he said. "Again we are seeing these stalling tactics."









https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/aust...-over-affair-with-pregnant-staffer/ar-AAxNSDQ
 
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