Israel Supreme Court clears ways for accused paedophile Malka Leifer’s extradition

Accused paedophile Malka Leifer has lost an appeal challenging her extradition to Australia at the Supreme Court of Israel, clearing the way for her to stand trial after a six-year legal saga.

The Supreme Court justices said that the ruling finalises “the decision of the appellant as extraditable” to stand trial in Australia.

Israeli Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn praised the court’s decision and said he would sign the extradition order immediately.

“After long and tormenting years, the time has come to do justice with Leifer’s victims,” he wrote on Twitter.

Ms Leifer, 52, a former Melbourne Principal of the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick in Melbourne’s inner south-east is charged with 74 counts of sex abuse against three of her former students.

Sisters Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper accused Ms Leifer of repeatedly abusing them during her time as headmistress of the school between 2001 and 2008.

Ms Erlich said on Tuesday evening that now that Ms Leifer’s return to Australia seemed imminent the sisters were limited in what they could say due to the pending charges, but that they were motivated by a desire to protect others in Ms Leifer’s care in Israel.

“At the end of the day we want to make sure that Malka Leifer receives a fair trial here in Australia, that’s all we want. We want to see justice happen,” she told The Age on Tuesday night.

Read the article by David Estcourt in The Age.