ISRAEL/AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)
By LEITH HUFFADINE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
The former principal of an elite ultra-orthodox Jewish school has been allowed to walk free despite being wanted on 74 child sex charges.
Malka Leifer is wanted by Victorian police for 74 charges of indecent assault and rape allegedly involving girls at the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, but a judge in Israel, where she fled in 2008 after being accused, has ruled she’s not mentally fit to be extradited to Australia, the ABC reported.
According to the report, Leifer has avoided 10 extradition proceedings in the past two years, claiming she suffers panic attacks and is too unwell to face court.
After a psychiatrist’s report released on Thursday said she was mentally unwell and after a judge said she couldn’t face extradition, her house arrest in Israel will be lifted.
She doesn’t have to face an extradition hearing until after she’s completed psychiatric treatment – which could last years, according to the ABC.
The decision has stunned Australian authorities and those campaigning to seek justice for the alleged victims, including Australian-Israeli victim advocate Manny Waks.
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