The girls were too afraid to tell anyone given the former principal’s standing in the Hasidic community, Victoria’s county court hears
Three sisters allegedly raped and sexually abused by their teacher at an ultra-orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne had “no understanding of sex” at the time and were too afraid to tell anyone given the teacher’s standing in the local Hasidic community, a court has heard.
Malka Leifer, who was the principal of Adass Israel school in Elsternwick, has been charged with 29 offences against the three girls between 2003 and 2007, including 10 counts of rape.
Leifer, 56, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and appeared at the Victorian county court. Her barrister, Ian Hill, argued the three complainants were unreliable and had changed their recollections over many years, with one sister not reporting rape or assault in a 12-page report to police in 2011.
The prosecution alleges the offences occurred inside her office at the school, in the library, at her home in Elsternwick, at two school camps and at other locations in Emerald and Elwood.
In his opening statement, the crown prosecutor Justin Lewis told the jury Leifer had “a lot of power” in the community and could decide who would be employed by the school after graduation.
Read the article by Henry Belot in The Guardian.