Israel’s Supreme Court orders alleged sex offender Malka Leifer to appear before psychiatric panel
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered alleged sex offender Malka Leifer to appear before a psychiatric panel that will rule on whether she is mentally fit to face extradition to Australia hearings.
Malka Leifer, a former school principal, who is wanted on 74 charges of sexual abuse in Melbourne, Australia, is led out of the Jerusalem District Court. Jerusalem, Jun 14, 2018. Photo by Hillel Maeir/TPS
The court rejected an appeal of the ruling by the Jerusalem District Court, which ordered Leifer to appear before the psychiatric panel. The panel has been ordered to provide its recommendation by December 10. After reviewing the psychiatric evaluation, the court will decide whether to approve her extradition to Australia.
The court’s expected decision follows nearly six years of legal proceedings against the alleged pedophile.
Leifer, a former Ultra-Orthodox girls’ school principal, is charged in Australia with 74 cases of child abuse. She fled to Israel in 2008 following allegations that she had sexually abused students at the Adass Yisroel school in Melbourne.
Child sexual abuse advocate Manny Waks reports: “Judge David Mintz has dismissed the appeal by Leifer’s lawyers regarding the District Court’s decision to compel Leifer to be examined by the new psychiatric panel. Leifer will be assessed by the panel tomorrow.
Tuesday’s hearing at the Jerusalem Supreme Court lasted for just over an hour. Malka Leifer’s defence spoke for most of that time, with the Prosecution only responding briefly and convincingly.”
He added: “I’m pleased with today’s court decision to dismiss the appeal by Leifer’s defence and to compel her to undergo another psychiatric panel assessment. We expect next week’s decisive hearing to rule that Malka Leifer is indeed fit to face justice and that her extradition hearing will finally recommence. This ongoing farce must end, and justice must prevail – for Leifer’s victims and for other victims who are being deterred from pursuing justice.”
The psychiatric panel is expected to hand their decision to the District Court by 10 December. The next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday 10 December where the decision regarding Leifer’s fitness to face justice will be announced.
Dassi Erlich, one of three sisters who survived the alleged abuse and who spearheaded the move to return Leifer to Melbourne for trial, wrote on Facebook: “With 2 months since the last hearing, Leifer hasn’t been front & centre of our minds and we almost forgot how emotionally exhausting & physically gruelling these hearings are.
Time to breathe, sleep and remember we will get through this.”
The president of the Zionist Federation of Australia Jeremy Leibler said: “Malka Leifer has previously been found beyond any doubt to be fit to face the extradition trial”, said Mr Leibler. “I welcome today’s decision and look forward to learning the evaluation outcome next week.
Today was the 61st legal hearing on this matter, and the actual extradition trial hasn’t yet started. It’s way past time to bring Leifer home, so she can stand trial in Australia, and her alleged victims can finally start putting this nightmare behind them. The Jewish community stands with the survivors and their campaign to bring Malka Leifer back to Australia to face justice.”
TPS/JWire
Evil person.