An Israeli court said Tuesday that it will delay its ruling on whether to extradite an ultra-Orthodox woman accused of sex crimes in Australia until a psychiatrist can review her case.
Malka Leifer, the former principal of the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick, Melbourne, fled to Israel from Australia in 2008, days before allegations of sexual abuse against her surfaced.
Australian authorities plan to charge her with 74 counts of child sexual abuse.
Leifer, a dual Australian-Israeli citizen, denies any wrongdoing.
She was arrested in 2014 following an undercover police investigation at Interpol's request and released on bail. She was admitted to hospital in 2016 after being declared unfit to stand trial.
The Israel Police rearrested Leifer on Feb 12., alleging she faked a mental illness to avoid extradition to Australia.
Prosecutor Matan Akiva on Tuesday presented Jerusalem District Court Judge Chana Miriam Lomp with a Feb. 14 psychiatric evaluation stating Leifer was, in fact, fit to stand trial.
Leifer's lawyer, Yehuda Fried, called the report "rubbish" and informed the court he could produce a long list of psychiatrists that would argue she was still unfit to stand trial.
Lomp agreed to give the defense a continuance to review the new psychiatric evaluation.
Fried said that the court ruled Leifer should be dealt "within the realm of mental illness, adding this likely meant a yearslong process before her extradition could be reconsidered.
"Today, the court has rejected the prosecution's stand and has determined that the hearing will be held [in accordance with] the law for treating the mentally ill. This means that it will be a long process. I expect it would take several years before a ruling on an extradition is handed down," Fried told reporters.
But a court official later confirmed the next hearing on Leifer's extradition has been set for March 28, indicating an extradition ruling could be given sooner.
