An Israeli judge has ordered the extradition to Australia of accused sex predator Malka Leifer, capping a nine-year campaign by three Melbourne sisters to bring her to justice.
While Leifer is likely to appeal the decision, she lost her best hope of staying in Israel when the nation’s highest court, the Supreme Court, earlier this month upheld a finding that she was fit to face trial.
Late Monday, Jerusalem District Court judge Chana Miriam Lomp granted the extradition order sought by the Australian government since 2014.
“This is a victory for justice,” alleged victim Nicole Meyer said. “A victory not just for us, but for all survivors … today our hearts are smiling.”
Leifer, 55, has fought tooth and nail not to be returned to Australia to face 74 counts of sexual abuse, including rape, of Ms Meyer, 35, and her sisters, Dassi Erlich, 32, and Elly Sapper, 31, while they were students at the Adass Israel ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne.
As principal, Leifer is alleged to have preyed on them for almost four years, almost up until the time she fled to Israel in 2008 when the whistle was blown. She rushed to the airport in the dead of night to escape.
The young women went to Victoria police in 2011, and Leifer was detained by Israeli authorities in 2014 when the Australian government applied for her extradition.
But the mother-of-eight, claiming to be mentally unfit to face court, was able to string out the legal proceedings to the point that the case was suspended in 2016. Ms Meyer said the sisters feared their accused abuser would never be brought to justice.
Read the article by Irris Makler and Jamie Walker in The Australian.