MELBOURNE: A former school principal who was extradited from Israel after a six-year legal battle was ordered to stand trial on Thursday on 70 charges of child sex abuse.
Malka Leifer, 55, pleaded not guilty to all the charges at the end of a court hearing. The committal hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court was held to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial.
Leifer is accused of carrying out the abuse against sisters Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper when Leifer was head of Melbourne’s Adass Israel School between 2004 and 2008.
The three sisters testified by video link during a closed court hearing. Leifer also appeared by video from Melbourne’s women’s prison, the Dame Phyillis Frost Center. Melbourne is currently in lockdown due to a coronavirus outbreak.
The judge, Magistrate Johanna Metcalf, said she believed the evidence was of sufficient weight to support a conviction.
Leifer faces 44 counts of indecent assault, 13 of an indecent act with a child, 10 of rape, and three of sexually violating a child. Prosecutors withdrew four further charges after it became clear those alleged incidents occurred in Israel.
The next hearing will be held at Victoria’s County Court on Oct. 21.
Leifer’s lawyer Ian Hill didn’t make any submissions at the end of the prosecution’s case. The judge noted Leifer denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
Five witnesses gave evidence on Thursday including former Adass Israel School staffer Esther Spigelman, who said she went to see Leifer the day after she was stood down by the school board over the allegations in 2008.
“It was a very big shock and I went to say goodbye. She was very upset with what they were doing to her,” Spigelman said.
FILE - This Feb. 27, 2018, file photo, Israeli-born Australian Malka Leifer, right, is brought to a courtroom in Jerusalem. A former school counsellor testified in an Australian court from Israel on Monday that she suspected two sisters alleged they had been sexually abused by Leifer in an attempt to get financial compensation. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean, File)