A FORMER headmistress today found guilty of sexually assaulting two girls at an ultra-orthodox Jewish school in Australia, 15 years after she escaped arrest by fleeing to Israel. 

A jury found Malka Leifer guilty on 18 charges, including rape and indecent assault, but cleared her on nine other charges.

Leifer was the principal of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne when she was first accused in 2008 of sexually assaulting her female pupils.

A dual Israeli-Australian citizen, Leifer bolted to Israel before her arrest, sparking a drawn-out court battle spanning more than 70 extradition hearings.

The fugitive mother-of-eight was finally marched back to Australia in 2021, and was put on trial in February this year. 

Prosecutors alleged during the trial that Leifer sexually assaulted three sisters who were studying at the Adass Israel School, which is part of a reclusive Jewish sect on the city’s outskirts.

After a seven-week trial, and seven days of deliberations, the jury convicted Leifer of sexually assaulting two of the sisters.

Leifer, who has maintained her innocence throughout, sat with her hands folded and stared straight ahead as the verdicts were read.

Abuse of power

The court heard how Leifer had abused her high standing within the Adass community to prey on the sisters.

According to an indictment, Leifer raped one student in 2006 after inviting her home to “sleep over for kallah lessons” – a kind of pre-wedding etiquette class that includes sexual education.

On other occasions Leifer told the students she was preparing them to be wives, prosecutor Justin Lewis told the court in his opening statement.

“This will help you for your wedding night,” Leifer said after one sexual assault, according to Lewis.

“This is what is good for you,” she allegedly said during another incident.

Leifer fled Australia in 2008 after one of the students confided in her therapist about the sexual assaults.

She eventually settled in the ultra-orthodox Emmanuel settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Secretly filmed

Australian police filed charges against Leifer in 2012 and requested her extradition from Israel two years later, sparking a lengthy legal saga.

Leifer claimed crippling depression had left her catatonic and that she was mentally incapable of standing trial. 

The extradition process was suspended – until a private investigator secretly filmed Leifer going about her daily chores, apparently unafflicted by the mental illnesses she had claimed.

She was eventually extradited to Melbourne on a flight in 2021.

Defence lawyer Ian Hill previously said Leifer denied “all of the criminal conduct alleged by each of the complainants” and that her interactions with the students were “professional and proper”. 

“We deny that they are telling the truth,” he said. – AFP, April 3, 2023.