Cleaner says he saw alleged sex offender principal Malka Leifer with girls

A cleaner has told a court he saw accused pedophile Malka Leifer with multiple girls in her office after hours at the Melbourne Jewish school where she was principal.

A cleaner at an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne saw former principal and accused peedophile Malka Leifer with multiple young girls in her office outside of school hours, a court has heard.

Mario Toledo told the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court he would occasionally see the headmistress with “one, two or three” girls in her presence on Sundays while cleaning the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick between 2001 and 2008.

Mr Toledo, who gave his evidence on Thursday through a Spanish interpreter, said he was never close enough to the group to hear what Ms Leifer and the young girls were saying and he “never paid any attention”.

Ms Leifer is accused of sexually abusing Melbourne sisters Nicole Meyer, Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper during her time as headmistress at the school.

Last year the women obtained a court order to publicly identify themselves.

Two of the sisters have this week given evidence in closed court during the week-long contested committal, which will test whether there is enough evidence to send the case to trial by jury in the County Court.

Read the article by Genevieve Alison in Herald Sun.