Psychiatric opinion on Malka Leifer delayed for a month
'How much longer can we hold on?' one of the alleged victims asked.
By JEREMY SHARONMalka Leifer, a former Australian school principal who is wanted in Australia on suspicion of sexually abusing students, walks in the corridor of the Jerusalem District Court accompanied by Israeli Prison Service guards, in Jerusalem(photo credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)
In yet another delay in the legal proceedings against suspected pedophile Malka Leifer, the submission of a psychiatric review on her fitness for trial and extradition to Australia will only be made in another month.Dassi Erlich, one of Leifer’s alleged victims, said she and her sisters were “sick with anxiety” having waited close to three months for this hearing, and now facing another “nerve-wracking month” for the re-scheduled hearing.With her alleged victims waiting nervously for news of the panel’s findings – and with activists, journalists, attorneys for the prosecution and defense, and Leifer’s family members all crammed into a tiny room in the Jerusalem District Court Tuesday – Judge Chana Miriam Lomp announced that the hearing was postponed till January.The psychiatric opinion on Leifer’s status was supposed to have been submitted to the court for review on Tuesday, but the three psychiatrists reviewing her status said that they wanted to examine her further and that they would need another month before submitting their professional review, the judge said.Chief Psychiatrist for the Northern District Dr. Amir Ben-Ephraim, who is the chairman of the psychiatric review panel for Leifer, apparently failed to notify the court ahead of time that the review was not ready.Back in September, Lomp ordered the psychiatric review of Leifer’s mental fitness to stand trial, a decision which her defense attorneys appealed to the Supreme Court.That hearing took place just last week, and ended with the court rejecting the appeal on Tuesday. The examination by the panel took place last Wednesday, but the members of the panel now seek to examine her further before submitting their assessment.The panel’s written opinion will now be submitted by January 10, and a new hearing on its findings has been scheduled for four days later.“We feel sick with anxiety,” said Erlich in response to the new delay.“Another nerve wracking month. Will it [the hearing] actually go ahead? How much longer can we hold on?” she demanded.
“We don’t understand why this happening... it doesn’t make sense.”Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler also expressed his concern with the delay, noting that the assessment had been ordered back in September.“The [Australian] Jewish community is frustrated that today marks yet another delay,” said Leibler.“Leifer has been allowed to carry on this farce for way too long. She needs to return to Australia to face trial,” he said. “The Jewish community stands with the survivors and their campaign to bring Malka Leifer back to Australia to face justice.”Leifer is wanted in Australia on charges of 74 counts of child sex abuse against sisters Dassi Erlich, Ellie Sapper and Nicole Meyer, while she was principal of the Adass Israel girls’ school in Melbourne. She fled Australia in 2008 when allegations against her surfaced, and has claimed to be mentally unfit for extradition since legal proceedings were initiated against her in Israel in 2014.
