Conviction Jewish institutions and contexts Other Jewish institution or hearing Melbourne, Australia · 2023

Australia: Malka Leifer, ultra-Orthodox school principal, convicted of raping students after a 15-year extradition fight

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

principal of the Adass Israel School, Melbourne

Organization

Adass Israel School, Melbourne

Spiritual nexus

Students of an insular ultra-Orthodox school under its principal — the sisters' testimony described an upbringing so sheltered they lacked the vocabulary to name the abuse.

Guru or spiritual-teacher authority
Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2023-04-03 · jury conviction and sentence after extradition from Israel

County Court of Victoria, Australia. Malka Leifer, principal of Melbourne's Adass Israel School, fled to Israel in 2008 as allegations surfaced; after a fifteen-year extradition saga she was returned in January 2021 and convicted by a County Court of Victoria jury on 3 April 2023 of eighteen charges including rape against two sisters who had been her students. In August 2023 she was sentenced to 15 years, with a non-parole period of eleven and a half.

Documented coercion mechanisms

principal's total religious-educational authority in an insular community
victims' sheltered upbringing leaving them without words for what was done

Primary record

Sources

official court judgment sentencing remarks County Court of Victoria: sentencing remarks, DPP v Leifer, 24 Aug. 2023.: The court's own sentencing remarks.
national newspaper court reporting sentencing report The Times of Israel: 'Malka Leifer sentenced to 15 years'.: Independent report of the sentence.

Related record

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