Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Ex-Principal Of Jewish School Who Fled Sexual Abuse Charges Denied Bail

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Alleged sex offender Malka Leifer lost an appeal for release to house arrest during extradition proceedings, the same day that an Australian newspaper quoted an Israeli man as saying she molested his daughter.

The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday denied bail to Leifer, 54, the former principal of a Jewish girls’ school in Melbourne who fled to Israel in 2008 amid allegations that she sexually abused students there. She is wanted on 74 charges of child sexual abuse in Melbourne.

The former principal of the Adass Yisroel girls’ school, where the alleged crimes took place, had remained out of jail on bail and avoided court proceedings to seek her extradition to Australia by claiming mental incapacity, and missed several court appearances by saying she was feeling unwell. She was arrested in February after an undercover investigation found that she lived a normal life and was mentally fit to face extradition proceedings.

Leifer’s attorneys will appeal Sunday’s decision.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported Sunday that a resident of Emmanuel, the haredi Orthodox West Bank town where Leifer lives with her husband and 10 children, has alleged that she sexually molested his daughter while tutoring her in religious studies.

The man, identified as Daniel, told the newspaper he saw her touching another girl as well and alleged that she lures children into her apartment by offering them food, or to tutor them for free.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.