Malka Leifer, teacher accused of child sex abuse, to learn fate of extradition appeal next week

A Melbourne teacher that fled to Israel after being accused of child sex abuse will soon learn if her final extradition appeal is successful.

Fugitive teacher Malka Leifer will find out next week if she will be sent back to Australia, as the net closes in on a bid to extradite her on 74 child sex abuse charges.

The Israel Supreme Court of Israel heard final legal arguments about Australia’s demand she face justice over the allegations about her time at Melbourne’s Adass Israel School.

The hearing was Leifer’s final appeal in a saga that had dragged on since 2008 when she fled the country after the school was told of the allegations.

Melbourne sisters Nicole Meyer, Elly Sapper, and Dassi Erlich accused Leifer of abuse while she was head of the ultraorthodox school in Elsternwick.

The 74th hearing in the case took more than an hour, but the judgement was reserved with a decision likely next week.

Leifer’s defence lawyers tried to claim that the alleged offences were not serious enough to warrant her extradition.

However, a judge said that it was up to Australian courts to consider the evidence, with Israel’s court only considering whether she was mentally fit to stand trial.

Leifer, 52, was not in court and did not appear on video link.

Read the article by Stephen Drill in the Geelong Advertiser.