An Israeli court has refused to dismiss the extradition case against Malka Leifer, the former headmistress of Adass Israel Girls’ School (the School) in Melbourne. Ms Leifer fled to Israel in 2008 when allegations surfaced that she had sexually abused students. She is wanted on 74 counts of child abuse in Victoria. We previously reported on the decision of the Supreme Court of Victoria to award significant damages to one of Ms Leifer’s alleged victims: School pays $1.1 million to former student for sexual offences committed by female principal.

$1.1 million for abuse victim

Ms Leifer was the headmistress of the School which is part of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Melbourne. Ms Leifer was recruited for the position from her home in Israel, and was appointed to the position of ‘Head of Jewish Studies’ in 2000.

In September 2015, the Supreme Court of Victoria (the Court) awarded damages to a former student of the School in a civil case. The Court’s finding in this case is separate to the criminal charges that have led to the extradition case. In its judgement, the Court described the actions of Ms Leifer as “destructive and evil”, and found that she had sexually abused at least one of her students. The Court described “the breach of trust associated with the abuse” as “monstrous” and found that the School was directly and vicariously liable for Ms Leifer’s actions. The plaintiff was awarded significant damages for economic loss, medical expenses and $150,000 in exemplary damages against Ms Leifer.

Further details regarding the facts and findings of the case are discussed in our earlier article.

Calls to face extradition

When the allegations against Ms Leifer came to the attention of prominent members of the school community, some members arranged for Ms Leifer and her family members to travel to Israel. The travel costs were paid for by a member of the school community.

In the civil case discussed in our earlier article, the Court stated that it was likely that the Police only became aware of the allegations against Ms Leifer after they had been published in The Age newspaper, fifteen days after the alleged misconduct of Ms Leifer was reported to community leaders and eight days after Ms Leifer and her family left the country. As such, Ms Leifer was not charged while in Australia and instead, efforts have been made to extradite her to Australia to face charges of child abuse. She has been under house arrest in Israel since 2014.

On Sunday 21 February, Ms Leifer failed for the seventh time to appear at court for a hearing relating to the extradition case. The Herald Sun reports that her lawyers sought to have the case adjourned for up to two years due to Ms Leifer’s alleged psychiatric illness, which her legal team statea has prevented her from attending court in Israel.

On the same day, Judge Cohen of the Jerusalem District Court (the Israeli Court) refused Ms Leifer’s lawyers’ request to dismiss the case, and ordered that Ms Leifer undergo a more intensive psychiatric test to ascertain the extent of her alleged illness. ABC News reports that Judge Cohen has questioned the timings of Ms Leifer’s hospitalisations, as in one circumstance, Ms Leifer appeared at hospital two days before her hearing, despite being referred to hospital four days earlier. She then requested to be discharged from hospital as soon as the court hearing was over.

Ms Leifer’s lawyers’ request for a closed hearing to protect Ms Leifer’s privacy was denied due to the international importance of the case. The next hearing is scheduled for 20 March 2016.

Before the next hearing will take place, Ms Leifer’s legal team have stated that they intend to ask the Israeli attorney-general to intervene and dismiss the extradition proceedings.

International parties: preventing progress?

Although the Israeli Court has now ordered additional psychiatric testing to collect more details on Ms Leifer’s mental health, the fact remains that she has failed to appear before the Israeli Court on seven separate occasions. The efforts to extradite her to Victoria to face the 74 charges have been ongoing for at least 18 months. Manny Waks, an Australian-Israeli victims’ advocate, described the Israeli justice system as a ‘laughing-stock’ based on its failure to extradite Ms Leifer.

This is not the first instance of international bodies stymieing the efforts of Australian groups to address issues of historic child abuse. We have previously reported on the attempted intervention of a Jewish religious authority in the planned restructuring of the Melbourne Yeshivah Centre: Controversy over proposed reforms to Yeshivah Centre: Intervention by global headquarters causes backlash among victims.

One of the core issues with several organisations which have been investigated by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (the Royal Commission) is that they belong to a global religious organisation with authority figures based in international jurisdictions. Such a division in the governance structures between domestic and international bodies can make it even more difficult for victims to hold an organisation to account for any local institutional failings. It can also, as our article on the Yeshivah Centre discusses, create roadblocks if the Australian branch of an organisation wishes to reform in light of the findings of the Royal Commission. Legally, an organisation in Australia must abide by Australian laws.

In the case of Ms Leifer, the requests of alleged victims have led to a concerted effort to extradite her to Australia, where she faces serious criminal charges. The presence of the second highest ranking Australian diplomat in Israel at the Sunday hearing demonstrates that the matter is being closely observed by Australian officials, although the Australian Embassy stated that it would not be appropriate to comment on a case that is before the Israeli Court.