Latest Malka Leifer appeal in Israel to be heard in secret
Accused paedophile Malka Leifer's appeal against an order for her to stand trial for extradition to Australia is being heard behind closed doors in Israel.
A three-judge panel of Israel's Supreme Court granted a closed hearing at the request of the former Melbourne Orthodox school principal's defence team, allowing Ms Leifer, who appeared with her head hung via video-conference from prison, to be dismissed.
Accused child sex offender Malka Leifer appears on video with her head bowed in an Israeli court.Credit:Gabrielle Weiniger
During the hearing, head judge Yitzhak Amit told the defence that the number of appeals was unprecedented even among the most high-profile murder trials.
“Some of the things that happened with this case have never taken place in the history of the establishment of the state of Israel,” he said.
In a statement to the press inside court, Manny Waks, a prominent Melbourne activist against child sexual abuse, said he firmly believed Ms Leifer would fail in Wednesday's appeal and ultimately "face justice in Australia in due course".
The appeal takes place two months after a Jerusalem court decided that Ms Leifer, who is facing 74 charges of sexually assaulting female students at the ultra-Orthodox Adass Israel school in Elsternwick, is mentally competent to stand trial for extradition to Australia.
Members of Malka Leifer's legal team and family in court. The hearing was then closed to the press.Credit:Gabrielle Weiniger
Melbourne woman Dassi Erlich, who with her sisters Elly Sapper and Nicole Meyer have accused Ms Leifer of abuse, said after the ruling in May declaring her mentally competent that they had waited for years for her to face the allegations.
"It's taken us all night for this process to just sink in. The enormity of this decision is just staggering," Ms Erlich said.
Elly Sapper, Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer accuse Malka Leifer of abusing them at an Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne.Credit:Jason South
Ms Leifer fled to Israel in 2008 after the allegations first emerged. The process to extradite her has stalled several times since charges were laid in 2013.
Premier Daniel Andrews met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018, telling him the only just outcome was for Ms Leifer to face a jury of her peers.
Adass Israel Girls School was ordered to pay more than $1.1 million in damages to Ms Leifer's alleged victims in 2015.
In 2016, an Israeli judge found Ms Leifer mentally unfit to face extradition to Australia and she was set free.
But she was arrested in February last year after an undercover police investigation revealed she was leading a "normal life" and going about normal daily activities in the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Emmanuel.
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