Jerusalem: A former Melbourne school principal accused of sexually assaulting female students has lost a bid in an Israeli court to stop a further psychiatric examination to assess if she is mentally fit for extradition.
The Jerusalem Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal filed by Malka Leifer’s lawyers against a District Court decision handed down in late September that ordered a new psychiatric panel to assess and report on the 52-year-old’s mental state.
The appeal was heard a week before the new psychiatric panel was due to present its findings to the Israeli court.
Leifer faces extradition to Australia on 74 charges of sexually assaulting female students during her time at Melbourne’s ultra-orthodox Adass Israel school.
She fled to Israel in 2008 after the allegations first emerged and the process to extradite her has stalled several times since charges were laid in 2013.
Dassi Erlich, one of her alleged victims, has been fighting along with her sisters to bring Leifer back to Australia. She had a nervous six-hour wait for a final decision from the Supreme Court’s Judge David Mintz.
“With two months since the last hearing, Leifer has been front and centre of our minds and we almost forgot how emotionally exhausting and physically gruelling these hearings are,” Ms Erlich told AAP.
“Time to breathe, sleep and remember we will get through this.”
Read the article in The Sydney Morning Herald (AAP).