The jury in the high-profile case against Malka Leifer has told a court it has reached a unanimous verdict on some of the charges laid against the former ultra-Orthodox school principal accused of sexually abusing three students, but those findings have not been disclosed.
The jury convened for a second time late on Tuesday afternoon to ask a question of County Court judge Mark Gamble after earlier in the day asking for advice in the event they were deadlocked.
Gamble asked the foreman of the jury, “At this stage, has the jury reached a unanimous verdict on some of the charges, but not others?” to which the foreman replied, “Yes”.
The exchange followed an earlier query from the jury, which told Gamble they seemed “unlikely” to reach a unanimous decision and asked if they could instead return a majority vote.
The question, read out in court by Gamble, said: “At this point in deliberations, the jury seems unlikely to reach a unanimous decision on all charges. Can you please offer direction on a deadlock? Is it possible we can use a majority vote on the charges?”
Gamble told the jury, who have been considering the 27 charges for 17 hours since March 22, that they would have to continue their deliberations.
“What I do urge you to do is to return to the jury room and try to resolve your differences. Experience has shown that juries can often agree if given more time to consider, having discussed the issues,” Gamble said.
Read the article by David Estcourt in The Age.