Alleged sex-offender arrested for faking mental illness to avoid extradition
The Jerusalem Post
Jeremy Sharon
12 February 2018
Yehuda Fried (C), lawyer of Malka Leifer, speaks to a state prosecutor (L) after a court session at the Jerusalem District Court June 7, 2016. . (photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS)
Malka Leifer is accused of having sexually abused several former pupils of hers while she served as the principal of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, Australia.
Suspected sex-offender Malka Leifer was arrested Monday morning by Israeli police after an undercover investigation indicated that she has been feigning mental illness to avoid extradition to Australia.
Leifer is accused of having sexually abused several former pupils of hers while she served as the principal of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, Australia.
She fled to Israel in 2008, with extradition proceedings only beginning in 2014. Leifer has managed to avoid extradition, however, by claiming mental illness ever since, claims which until now have been upheld by a medical review panel of her case.
The police said in a statement that they had been requested to investigate the truth of Leifer’s mental status by Interpol and carried out this investigation in 2017.
“During the course of 2017, indications accrued that the suspect is pretending to suffer from mental illness in order to avoid extradition proceedings,” said the police, leading them to open the undercover investigation.
The police said that “a women in her 50s and a resident of one of the settlements in Samaria was arrested on suspicion of committing offenses of obstruction of justice under aggravated circumstances in fabricating evidence and impersonation.”
The police also noted that the woman is wanted in Australia for sex-offenses against three sisters, who were minors at the time of the offenses, and while the woman was serving as a teacher and principal in the school at which they studied.
Leifer will be questioned today, while the police department for international affairs is to restart extradition proceedings in order to extradite her to Australia.
Manny Waks, a campaigner against sex-abuse in Jewish communities around the world, welcomed Leifer’s arrest, and expressed hope that she would soon face her accusers.
“Her arrest is a credit to the many people who have worked tirelessly to ensure that she will be held to account and can no longer be a potential threat to children in Israel,” said Waks. "I’m especially happy for her courageous alleged victims.”
Originally published at The Jerusalem Post.
Suspected sex-offender Malka Leifer was arrested Monday morning by Israeli police after an undercover investigation indicated that she has been feigning mental illness to avoid extradition to Australia.
Leifer is accused of having sexually abused several former pupils of hers while she served as the principal of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, Australia.
She fled to Israel in 2008, with extradition proceedings only beginning in 2014. Leifer has managed to avoid extradition, however, by claiming mental illness ever since, claims which until now have been upheld by a medical review panel of her case.
The police said in a statement that they had been requested to investigate the truth of Leifer’s mental status by Interpol and carried out this investigation in 2017.
“During the course of 2017, indications accrued that the suspect is pretending to suffer from mental illness in order to avoid extradition proceedings,” said the police, leading them to open the undercover investigation.
The police said that “a women in her 50s and a resident of one of the settlements in Samaria was arrested on suspicion of committing offenses of obstruction of justice under aggravated circumstances in fabricating evidence and impersonation.”
The police also noted that the woman is wanted in Australia for sex-offenses against three sisters, who were minors at the time of the offenses, and while the woman was serving as a teacher and principal in the school at which they studied.
Leifer will be questioned today, while the police department for international affairs is to restart extradition proceedings in order to extradite her to Australia.
Manny Waks, a campaigner against sex-abuse in Jewish communities around the world, welcomed Leifer’s arrest, and expressed hope that she would soon face her accusers.
“Her arrest is a credit to the many people who have worked tirelessly to ensure that she will be held to account and can no longer be a potential threat to children in Israel,” said Waks. "I’m especially happy for her courageous alleged victims.”
Originally published at The Jerusalem Post.