Published: 16 September 2021
Last updated: 4 March 2024
VIDEO: Julie Szego reports on what happened, how we got to this point and how the wheels of justice will turn; READ full list of witnesses and Leifer's request for Yom Kippur
MORE THAN SIX years after Victoria police launched extradition proceedings to bring her back from Israel, Malka Leifer faced justice in a Melbourne court yesterday.
The former headmistress of Adass Israel School in Elsternwick faces 74 charges of sexual abuse of three former students from 2004-08. A committal hearing began in the Melbourne County Court yesterday to assess whether there was sufficient evidence for the case to move to trial.
Leifer has maintained her innocence during the protracted legal battle.
Wearing the same blue top and white headcovering as in her previous appearances, Leifer attended the court by videolink from a room in prison, with a guard watching her from the door, while magistrate Joanna Metcalf and barristers discussed “housekeeping” matters relating to the hearing, which is being held online due to Covid restrictions.
The court was then closed to the media and public when the first witness was called. It will remain closed while the first three witnesses, Leifer’s former students, sisters Dassi Erlich, Elly Sapper and Nicole Meyer, give evidence.
Magistrate Metcalf asked Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC whether the three sisters would be comfortable with having Leifer in their direct line of vision while they gave evidence. Ms Rogers told the court that the witnesses did not have a problem with it.
In addition to the three former students, the hearing will hear from seven other witnesses: Vicki Gordon, a psychologist working at Adass at the time of the alleged assaults, Chana Rabinowitz, a counsellor at the school, (who will give evidence via videolink from Israel), Sharon Bromberg and Esther Spigelman, who were teachers at Adass, Joshua Erlich, the former husband of one of the witnesses, Mario Toledo, and Danielle Newton, a Victorian police detective.
Before closing the court, Magistrate Metcalf was told by counsel that no Jewish witnesses would be called on Thursday, September 16, which is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement and most holy day in the Jewish calendar. If the case continues into the middle of next week, the same would apply for September 21 and 22, which is the Jewish festival of Succot.
Leifer’s counsel Ian Hill said his client wanted to observe Yom Kippur and asked to be excused from attending the hearing on that day. Mr Hill told the court Leifer was happy for her defence team to proceed in her absence.
Magistrate Metcalf agreed to excuse Leifer from appearing on Thursday and said if the hearing does proceed into next week, the other Jewish holidays can be dealt with later. Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers said she thought the hearing would run until Monday, September 20 at least.
Ian Hill said he was ‘mildly confident’ that we can conclude this case by next Monday.
Leifer left Melbourne for Israel in 2008, and Victoria Police first submitted a request for her extradition in 2014. The claim stalled in 2016 when an Israeli court ruled Leifer was mentally unfit to face trial.
But last year Israel's District Court ruled she was mentally fit to be extradited.
In January this year, Leifer was flown out of Israel, just before the international airport was shut down because of the pandemic, to Germany and then to Australia, where she has been in remand while police prepared their case against her.
The court was told yesterday that the three former students, who will give evidence from a remote premises, would be given counsellors by the Office of Public Prosecution to provide emotional support while they gave evidence.
The hearing continues today.
Illustration: Artist's sketch of Leifer from a previous hearing
