Following a six-week trial, the jury of Victoria's County Court in Australia found former Melbourn Jewish school principal Malka Leifer, extradited by Israel after a years-long legal fight, guilty of 18 sexual offenses, including rape, indecent assault, and sexual penetration of two teenage students.
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Accusations against Leifer began surfacing in 2008, after which the Israeli-born principal fled to Israel, continuously claiming she was mentally unfit to stand trial. Following a lengthy extradition process, the former principal of the Adass Israel School was brought back to Australia in 2021 after an Israeli psychiatric panel determined she had been lying about her mental condition.
Leifer was accused by three sisters — Nicole Meyer, Dassi Erlich, and Elly Sapper — of sexually abusing them in secret between 2003 and 2007. According to the sisters, the offenses took place on school grounds, in locked staff offices, on school camps, and at Leifer's home.
The jury found Leifer guilty of the offenses relating to Erlich and Sapper, but not of charges relating to Meyer.
The trial in Australia began in February when the jurors heard evidence from police, psychiatrists, school staff, and the sisters themselves.