Ex-principal for sentencing on August 24
In April, a County Court jury found Leifer, 56, guilty of 18 out of the 27 charges against her
Malka Leifer will be sentenced in the County Court of Victoria on August 24, Judge Mark Gamble told a court hearing today.
The former Adass Israel School principal heard the date of her sentencing as she followed the hearing by video link from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre women’s prison in Melbourne.
Leifer will face Judge Gamble by video link on Thursday, August 24 at 9.30 am to learn of her sentence after both the prosecution and her defence consented to excusing her from personal attendance in court on the day of the sentencing.
In April, a County Court jury found Leifer, 56, guilty of 18 out of the 27 charges against her, relating to Dassi Erlich, now 35, and her sister Elly Sapper, now 34. These included rape, indecent assault and sexual penetration of a child aged 16 or 17 – which occurred over the period 2004-07 while Leifer was principal.
Judge Mark Gamble indicated that in formulating his sentence, he would take into account a number of factors, including affidavits and other documents from Israeli courts relating to Leifer’s 52 days in Israeli custody in 2014 and a further 608 days she spent in home detention.
He will also weigh contentions that Leifer feigned mental illness in a bid to avoid extradition to Australia and Crown Prosecutor Justin Lewis’ observation that she was “respected” and “feared” by her students, which helped facilitate her offending.
Addressing today’s hearing, Leifer’s barrister Ian Hill, KC, emphasised the specifics of her Israeli home detention, the fact that she was not living with her husband, and was required to wear a tracking ankle bracelet.
Spirited out of Australia in 2008 after reports of child sexual abuse began to circulate, Leifer was extradited to Australia in 2021.
Police have reopened an investigation into the circumstances under which her exit from Australia was facilitated in 2008.
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