Published: 28 January 2021
Last updated: 4 March 2024
MALKA LEIFER SAT AT a table in an empty room in the custody of Victorian police, her head bowed in her hands for almost the whole of her first appearance in an Australian court, her face obscured from the media looking on via digital connection.
Among the media and others “attending” the hearing before the Victorian Magistrate’s Court were her accusers, sisters Dassi Erlich, Elly Sapper and Nicole Meyer. The mother of eight, a former principal of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, refused to respond when the magistrate, Johanna Metcalf, asked if she could see and hear the proceedings.
Leifer, 54, sat immobilised – in the same clothes she wore when she boarded a flight from Israel on Monday - as Magistrate Metcalf, public prosecutor Phillip Raimondo and defence lawyer Tony Hargreaves worked through the mechanics of her next hearing and custody arrangements.
Magistrate Metcalf told the court there were 74 charges against Leifer, from three complainants. The charge sheet released by police detailed 11 counts of rape, 47 charges of indecent assault, 13 of committing an indecent act with a child, and three of sexual penetration of a child. They took place mostly in Elsternwick, the Melbourne suburb where the Adass school and community is located.
Names of the victims, and details of some charges, were redacted.
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There are also charges for acts alleged to have taken place in Rawson, Blampied and Emerald, understood to have related to school camps.
The earliest charge is dated as beginning from January 1, 2004, and the final charges are alleged to have occurred up until March 2008. The police charge sheet alleges that Leifer “fled Australia” on March 6, 2008. The charges were filed in March 2012.
Leifer’s solicitor Hargreaves told the court his client had a number of mental health challenges and needed a number of different medications. He requested she be transferred from police custody to prison as soon as possible, so prison authorities could administer her medication as prescribed.
Mr Hargreaves added that Leifer has strict religious observances she must adhere to and requested that arrangements needed to be made as quickly as possible so she could comply with them.
Leifer did not request bail and it was not granted. She was remanded to appear before Melbourne Magistrates Court for a committal hearing via video link on April 9.
She is serving a mandatory 14-day coronavirus isolation period for all arrivals into Australia, having arrived at Melbourne airport on Wednesday night, where Victorian police received her and ushered her into a vehicle on the airport tarmac.
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Government-funded chaplaincy organisation will offer services to Malka Leifer (Age)
Illustration: Courtesy Nine newspapers
