Alleged pedophile Malka Leifer ‘fit to stand trial’ panel rules
Leifer could now face extradition to Australia where she is wanted on 74 charges of sexual molestation and rape of school girls.
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)
Alleged pedophile Malka Leifer is fit to stand trial, a panel of psychiatric experts that has evaluated her over the last two months reportedly has found.Leifer has claimed to be mentally unfit for trial ever since she was arrested in Israel in 2014 on 74 charges of the sexual molestation and rape of school girls at the Adas Israel school in Melbourne, Australia, where she worked from 2000 to 2008.The three-member panel was appointed following a decision in September by Judge Chana Miriam Lomp of the Jerusalem District Court seeking a conclusive assessment of Leifer’s mental state. Leifer has claimed mental illness for almost six years to avoid extradition.The psychiatric opinion has not yet been formally presented to the court, but the Justice Ministry on Thursday told The Jerusalem Post the three experts on the panel had found that Leifer was mentally fit for extradition.The court will review and deliberate on the new psychiatric assessment next Tuesday.Leifer fled from Australia to Israel in 2008 after allegations of sexual abuse surfaced against her. But an extradition request only was made in 2012, and extradition proceedings in Israel began in 2014.After Leifer was arrested, she claimed mental illness to avoid extradition to Australia, a claim that was eventually accepted by the Jerusalem district psychiatrist and the court, and legal proceedings against her were dropped.In 2018, Leifer was rearrested on suspicion of feigning mental illness to avoid extradition, and legal proceedings were restarted.Dassi Erlich and her two sisters, who are three of Leifer’s alleged victims, warmly welcomed the news of the panel’s opinion, saying: “We cannot believe this day has come… Such a long wait, justice has come!!”Meyer Seewald, director of the Jewish Community Watch organization, which paid for a private investigation into Leifer’s status in 2017 that led to her rearrest, said he was “elated” at the news.
“From the day we began collecting evidence that Malka Leifer was faking her mental illness, we have been waiting anxiously for this outcome,” he said. “We hope that this is a turning point in this drawn-out saga, and that Malka Leifer will be swiftly extradited to Australia to face her accusers in court.”The findings of the panel “were no surprise at all,” attorneys Tal Gabbai and Yehudah Fried, who are representing Leifer, said in a statement. Two previous psychiatric opinions that had said Leifer was feigning mental illness were “rejected by the court after the evidentiary process, and we expect this will be the case with this opinion as well.”
