Witnesses to testify on accused sex abuser Malka Leifer
Leifer left Australia for Israel in 2008 when allegations were raised.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFMalka Leifer(photo credit: MAARIV/AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Multiple witnesses and alleged victims are set to testify against accused sex abuser and former school principled Malka Leifer in September, multiple media sources reported.Leifer, 54, has been accused of sexually abusing three Orthodox sisters who were also her former students at a Melbourne school between 2004 and 2008. Testimonies are to come from the sisters' doctor, psychologists and other witnesses familiar with the accusers from Israel.Leifer had left Australia for Israel in 2008 when allegations were raised, according to The Guardian. In 2014, Leifer was arrested and placed under house arrest in Israel after extradition orders were filed by Victoria police.Leifer's lawyers want to cross-examine the sisters regarding on 'what was happening' at their home during the alleged abuse. Regarding her accusations, Leifer has always stated that she is innocent of the crime. Multiple sources report that Leifer overall is charged with 74 counts of child sexual abuse during her time as principal, including 11 counts of rape, 13 indecent acts with a child and 47 of indecent assault, and three of sexual penetration of a child.Last Friday, Leifer appeared before the magistrates court in Melbourne via video link where she looked downward for most of the hearing.One charge accuses Leifer of "compelling (a victim) ... without her consent to sexually penetrate Malka Leifer” while Leifer was aware the victim “was not consenting or might not be consenting” while another accuses Leifer of raping a victim “by intentionally sexually penetrating her without her consent ... while being aware that she was not consenting or might not be consenting.”Former Housing Minister Yaacov Litzman allegedly tried to influence psychiatric evaluations of the former principal, denying any wrongdoing.
An Israeli court found her mentally unfit to be extradited, but police arrested Leifer in the West Bank settlement of Emmanuel where she was living.In December, the Israeli supreme court rejected Leifer's final appeal after finding that Leifer had been feigning mental illness and was fit to be extradited to Australia.
