Israeli court delays extradition hearing of Melbourne principal facing child sex charges

By Kate Shuttleworth
Sydney Morning Herald
May 9, 2016

http://www.smh.com.au/world/israeli-court-delays-extradition-hearing-of-melbourne-principal-facing-child-sex-charges-20160508-gopg9y.html

Campaigner Manny Waks: "This case has gone on far too long". Photo by Penny Stephens

Malka Leifer remains in Israel, where she will be assessed by psychiatrists.

Jerusalem: An Israeli court has ruled that all legal proceedings against a fugitive principal should be suspended until she receives psychiatric treatment, further delaying a decision on her extradition to Australia.

Malka Leifer faces prosecution in relation to 74 alleged sexual offences against girls she taught at Adass Israel School, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in the Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick.

Ms Leifer on Sunday failed to appear in the Jerusalem District Court for the eighth time in two years, but her legal team led by Yehuda Fried managed to avoid a court hearing on an extradition order to Victoria.

So far all court hearings have concentrated on Ms Leifer's psychiatric state.

Ms Leifer's lawyers have consistently argued she is unwell and unfit to appear in court. They argue she experiences panic attacks and bouts of depression as each court hearing approaches, resulting in each session proceeding without her participation.

Prosecutor Avital Ribner-Oron asked Judge Amnon Cohen to hospitalise Ms Leifer for treatment, with the district psychiatrist's reporting that she had suffered a psychotic episode ahead of her last court appearance in April. At the time she was hospitalised for two days.

Ms Ribner-Oron told the judge the state believed Ms Leifer should be hospitalised and not treated in an outpatient capacity.

"If Leifer is not fit to stand trial and if in fact she is having some kind of psychotic episode, or she is psychotic, then she needs treatment and she should be hospitalised," she said.

"It is the most intensive type of care and they will be able to oversee her mental situation and, once we receive an update that she is able to stand trial, then we can return to court and ask that proceedings resume and the extradition hearings begin."

Her defence agreed with the prosecution that all legal proceedings should be suspended. At a hearing in February, her defence had asked for the case to be dismissed.

Judge Cohen ruled that a psychiatric assessment would be prepared by the end of May and a decision made in court on June 2 regarding Ms Leifer's treatment. 

​ "After receiving the assessment of the district psychiatrist – who gave a very clear assessment according to Israeli law – all legal proceedings must stop against the suspect," the Judge ruled. 

"I call on the original psychiatrist to assess if he thinks a hospitalisation order should be issued, or if he would recommend another possible treatment. 

"I thought about ruling today on her treatment in a clinic in Tel Hashomer (Israel's national hospital), but because both parties agreed to stop all legal proceedings, we will wait for the psychiatrist's recommendation on a treatment."

The recommendation would not, however, be binding on the court, he said.

Ms Leifer's brother, seated in the court, laughed at several points made during the 15-minute session.

Ms Leifer been living under house arrest in Bnei Brak in Israel, where she fled in 2008 allegedly with the help of members of Melbourne's Adass Israel community.

It took six years for prosecutors to catch up with Ms Leifer, and she was placed under house arrest in 2014 after an extradition request from Australia.

Ms Leifer headed Adass Israel School from 2003 until she fled in 2008. She was highly regarded in the community, running day-to-day operations at the school and also teaching Jewish studies.

Members of the Adass Israel School community are under investigation by Victorian police for allegedly helping Ms Leifer and her family leave.

Information on the family's plane tickets was obtained under subpoena and the tickets were allegedly paid for by a company associated with the school community.

Australian-Israeli victim advocate Manny Waks believed the case had dragged on unnecessarily long, and the alleged victims – girls aged 14 and 15 at the time – deserved some finality.

Mr Waks exposed sexual abuse at Melbourne's Yeshivah College, and also gave evidence to the child abuse royal commission

He founded a new global organisation called called Tzedek, which advocates on behalf of victims of child sexual abuse in Jewish communities.

"Either Leifer is well enough to face justice or she is hospitalised until she is ready to do so. There should be no alternative," he said.

"This case has dragged on for far too long and we need some finality. We need to put the interests and wellbeing of the alleged victims ahead of the interests and wellbeing of the alleged perpetrator."

The Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv, James McGarry, said the case was being taken seriously in Israel.