A decades-long fight to bring justice to the victims of Malka Leifer has ended with the former principal of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing and raping two former students in her care.
Leifer, 56, will be eligible for parole in June 2029 after County Court Judge Mark Gamble imposed a non-parole period of 11½ years. Leifer has already served more than 2000 days in pre-sentence detention in Australia and Israel.
Gamble said on Thursday that Leifer was a predator who should feel guilty for sexually abusing the innocent sisters and that she used her position of influence over them to pursue her own sexual gratification.
Leifer watched the sentencing via video link from Dame Phyllis Frost Centre. A tear stained Leifer’s right cheek as Gamble reached the end of his sentencing remarks. It was the first time she showed any strong emotion throughout the trial.
Outside court sisters Elly Sapper, Dassi Erlich and Nicole Meyer spoke about the “momentous day”, elated that the legal system had finally recognised the abuse Sapper and Erlich had suffered.
“This fight was never just for us,” Erlich said. “Today really marks the end of this chapter of our lives and opens the chapter to us healing to any other survivors in this nightmare. You are never alone. We are all behind you.”
Read the article by David Estcourt and Caroline Schelle in WA Today.