The drama that played out in District Court 218 in Jerusalem this week wasn’t all about Malka Leifer, who as usual wasn’t there. Jaws dropped when her usually voluble lawyers let slip that they might not be around for much longer either.
One of the many mysteries surrounding the case of the fugitive ex-principal of Melbourne’s Adass Israel Jewish school is the lavish support she has had since fleeing Australia in the dead of night 12 years ago over allegations she had sexually abused female students, including three sisters.
The pricey lawyers in Israel who fought tooth and nail to keep her out of court and went close in 2016 to killing off Canberra’s extradition bid are one manifestation of a shadowy network that has supported Leifer through thick and thin.
But the charade that the meek-looking mother of eight was incapacitated by mental illness finally unravelled on Tuesday. Judge Chana Miriam Lomp found it had mostly been an act and Leifer, 54, was fit to face extradition and potentially trial in Australia for her alleged crimes.
“I hold the defendant is impersonating with regard to her ability to go to trial and her ability to function,” Lomp ruled. “She is eligible to stand trial and therefore I order that the extradition procedure be resumed in her case.”
Read the article by Jamie Walker and Irris Makler in The Australian.