Former Israel Principal Imprisoned 15 Years For Sexual Harassment Of Australian Students

Illustration of sexual violence in children (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - A former Israeli school principal spent up to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing two students at an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Australia. The perpetrator named Malka Leifer raped and attacked the sister of Dosi Erlich and Elly Sapper indecently between 2003 and 2007. Reporting from the BBC, Thursday, August 24, Leifer pleaded not guilty to more than two dozen charges and spent years fighting extradition from Israel. But in 2021, an Israeli judge found he had faked mental illness to avoid the court and ordered him to be sent to Melbourne. During a long trial, the jury heard evidence that Leifer had abused the nurses in the locked classroom, in the school camp, and at the principal's house. Judge Mark Gamble when indicting mentions Leifer as dangerous. According to the judge, Leifer is a respected figure at Israel's Adass School, even almost like a sickle. However, students who should have received protection and love are actually abused emotionally and physically. "This case is very striking because of how vulnerable these victims are, and how to count the perpetrators, Mrs. Leifer, are taking advantages that are not pleasing to her... for her own deviant sexual satisfaction," said the judge. Responding to the statements of Sapper and Erlich victims in which they spoke of a long-lasting feeling of guilt, shame, and fear, Judge Gamble stressed that they " absolutely innocent" were "over" the behavior of the "Leifer" predator. "He and he should be the ones who feel guilty and ashamed of what happened," said the judge. Considering the time he has served a prison sentence, Leifer will qualify for parole in June 2029. Speaking with his sister outside the court, Erlich said the sentence was the end of a long and traumatic round of their lives. "We are here today because we did not give up," he said. "And while we know that the responsibility for fighting for justice should not depend on survivors, this fight is never only for us. "To everyone who survived this nightmare: you're never alone, we're all in your hands." Now that Leifer's trial is over, police have reopened investigations into his efforts to avoid justice. The principal fled to Israel in 2008 after charges brought against him, reportedly with the help of school council members. He was arrested on Australia's request in 2014, but two years later an Israeli court suspended his extradition, deciding he was not mentally viable for trial. But an undercover private investigator later recorded him shopping and depositing a check at a bank, prompting Israeli authorities to investigate and recapture him again in February 2018. A judge there said he had "proposed as someone with mental illness".