The former principal of a Jewish girls' school in Australia was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday for sexually abusing two students before fleeing to Israel to avoid persecution.
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Malka Leifer, 56, a Tel Aviv-born mother of eight, was extradited to Australia in 2021, where a court convicted her on 18 counts and acquitted of nine other charges, including five that related to a third student.
Video: Leifer was convicted on 18 counts in 2021 / Credit: Reuters
The three former students are all sisters. They had an isolated upbringing in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and received no sexual education, the court heard. They were around 12, 14, and 16 when Leifer arrived at the school from Israel in 2001.
Judge Mark Gamble said Leifer abused her position at the Adass Israel School in Melbourne and her "insidious offending" had scarred the sisters for life. Leifer is a "serious sexual offender" who had shown a "callous indifference" to the suffering of her victims, Gamble said.
Leifer fled to Israel after allegations were first raised against her in 2008. When she was charged in 2014 it triggered a yearslong tussle over whether she would be extradited.
She will be eligible for parole after 11 years.
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