Former principal accused of child sex abuse avoids extradition to Australia
The Guardian
Melissa Davey
2 June 2016
Malka Leifer’s brother (centre) speaks with her defence lawyer, Yehuda Fried, in the Jerusalem district court. The former principal of Melbourne’s Adass Israel girls school, who is facing 74 charges of indecent assault and rape against her students, will not be extradited to Australia (photo: AAP/PR Image).
Home detention lifted as Israeli court declares Malka Leifer unfit to face trial in Victoria and recommends monthly psychiatric treatment
A former principal of the ultra orthodox Adass Israel girls school in Melbourne, who is facing 74 charges of indecent assault and rape against her students, will not be extradited to Australia.
Malka Leifer fled Australia in 2008 after the allegations were first raised, and her alleged victims have been fighting since then for her return to Victoria to face the justice system.
On Thursday, the Jerusalem district court judge Amnon Cohen declared Leifer unfit to face an extradition trial after receiving a report from Leifer’s psychiatrist.
Cohen also lifted Leifer’s home detention and ordered that she receive outpatient treatment from a psychiatrist once a month, a process the court heard could go on for a decade. Only once that treatment was completed could the possibility of an extradition trial again be raised before a committee, the court heard.
A survivor of abuse within Australia’s Yeshivah centres, Manny Waks, now lives in Israel and has been supporting Leifer’s alleged victims in Australia, providing them with updates from the court. He said Cohen’s ruling risked re-traumatising her alleged victims, and could have the consequence of deterring others from coming forward.
He told Guardian Australia that the alleged victims he spoke to said they felt “completely let down by Israel’s legal system, and there is certainly a lot of anger and outrage”.
He questioned the judgment, and said he believed there were alternative options Cohen could have considered if he believed Leifer was unfit to face the court.
“If someone is unable to stand trial for medical reasons, then they need to be provided the best medical care so they can face justice as soon as possible, and I just can’t see how monthly visits to a psychiatrist will achieve that,” Waks said.
“She should be institutionalised, looked after so that she can recuperate quickly, and then face trial or at the very least, face an extradition hearing as soon as possible.”
The prosecution had also raised doubts about the validity of Leifer’s medical claims throughout the case, concerns that Cohen at times seemed to agree with.
Waks said he feared Israel was “becoming a safe haven” for alleged paedophiles, with Leifer not the first case he was aware of where victims had felt let down.
“I am aware of another case where the trial that has been going on for a year and half, whereas in Australia it might go for a week or a month, and the young victims are being repeatedly cross-examined. It is just endless trauma for them,” he said.
“I spoke to another victim from the US, whose alleged perpetrator escaped to Israel and when he went to the police here, police put him in the same room as his perpetrator and basically re-traumatised him. While there is some good work going on here to help victims, these examples show Israel’s justice system has a long way to go.”
Waks said he believed the Australian government and embassy had done all they could to see Leifer face justice, including offering medical assistance to enable her to get well enough to face the court. He hoped they would continue to put pressure on Israel.
An ambassador with the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv , Dave Sharma, told the ABC they were studying the judgment closely. The prosecution has been given 72 hours to return to dispute the decision on lifting Leifer’s house arrest.
“We are committed to seeing this woman extradited to Australia to face these very serious child sex abuse charges,” Sharma told the ABC.
“We are determined to be patient and persevere to this end with the view to seeing her extradited.”
Originally published at The Guardian.
A former principal of the ultra orthodox Adass Israel girls school in Melbourne, who is facing 74 charges of indecent assault and rape against her students, will not be extradited to Australia.
Malka Leifer fled Australia in 2008 after the allegations were first raised, and her alleged victims have been fighting since then for her return to Victoria to face the justice system.
On Thursday, the Jerusalem district court judge Amnon Cohen declared Leifer unfit to face an extradition trial after receiving a report from Leifer’s psychiatrist.
Cohen also lifted Leifer’s home detention and ordered that she receive outpatient treatment from a psychiatrist once a month, a process the court heard could go on for a decade. Only once that treatment was completed could the possibility of an extradition trial again be raised before a committee, the court heard.
A survivor of abuse within Australia’s Yeshivah centres, Manny Waks, now lives in Israel and has been supporting Leifer’s alleged victims in Australia, providing them with updates from the court. He said Cohen’s ruling risked re-traumatising her alleged victims, and could have the consequence of deterring others from coming forward.
He told Guardian Australia that the alleged victims he spoke to said they felt “completely let down by Israel’s legal system, and there is certainly a lot of anger and outrage”.
He questioned the judgment, and said he believed there were alternative options Cohen could have considered if he believed Leifer was unfit to face the court.
“If someone is unable to stand trial for medical reasons, then they need to be provided the best medical care so they can face justice as soon as possible, and I just can’t see how monthly visits to a psychiatrist will achieve that,” Waks said.
“She should be institutionalised, looked after so that she can recuperate quickly, and then face trial or at the very least, face an extradition hearing as soon as possible.”
The prosecution had also raised doubts about the validity of Leifer’s medical claims throughout the case, concerns that Cohen at times seemed to agree with.
Waks said he feared Israel was “becoming a safe haven” for alleged paedophiles, with Leifer not the first case he was aware of where victims had felt let down.
“I am aware of another case where the trial that has been going on for a year and half, whereas in Australia it might go for a week or a month, and the young victims are being repeatedly cross-examined. It is just endless trauma for them,” he said.
“I spoke to another victim from the US, whose alleged perpetrator escaped to Israel and when he went to the police here, police put him in the same room as his perpetrator and basically re-traumatised him. While there is some good work going on here to help victims, these examples show Israel’s justice system has a long way to go.”
Waks said he believed the Australian government and embassy had done all they could to see Leifer face justice, including offering medical assistance to enable her to get well enough to face the court. He hoped they would continue to put pressure on Israel.
An ambassador with the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv , Dave Sharma, told the ABC they were studying the judgment closely. The prosecution has been given 72 hours to return to dispute the decision on lifting Leifer’s house arrest.
“We are committed to seeing this woman extradited to Australia to face these very serious child sex abuse charges,” Sharma told the ABC.
“We are determined to be patient and persevere to this end with the view to seeing her extradited.”
Originally published at The Guardian.