Alleged paedophile Malka Leifer mentally fit to be extradited to Australia, Israeli court rules

An Israeli court has ruled former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer is mentally fit to be extradited to Australia where she faces 74 charges of child sexual abuse.

It means Israeli lawyers can pursue an extradition request lodged by Victoria Police.

Ms Leifer is accused of abusing three sisters during her time as headmistress of the Adass Israel School between 2001 and 2008.

She allegedly fled Australia for Israel in 2008 when she learned the women were planning to file a complaint with police.

Australia lodged an extradition request for Ms Leifer in 2014, but the case has been repeatedly delayed.

Ms Leifer’s lawyers have said she suffers from clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and is therefore unfit to face trial in Australia.

But in January a panel of psychiatrists concluded the 54-year-old was faking her mental illness to avoid extradition.

An extradition hearing could begin soon, but Ms Leifer’s defence team is expected to immediately lodge an appeal in the Jerusalem High Court.

Malka Leifer’s mental health is a key issue

This is the 67th hearing in the Jerusalem District Court, in a case that has dragged on for nearly six years.

Australia’s extradition request was suspended in 2016 because her lawyers successfully argued that she was catatonic and crippled by depression.

But two years later, a private investigator used a hidden camera to record Ms Leifer out shopping, socialising and commuting.

She has been examined more than 30 times by mental health experts, many of whom have declared her competent.

In January, an expert panel concluded not only that Ms Leifer was well but that she had been perpetrating a “fraud” to avoid justice.

“The psychiatric panel’s findings lead to the inevitable conclusion that over the past five years, the court and the mental health system have fallen victim to a fraud perpetrated by Leifer and her supporters,” the Justice Ministry said at the time.

But Ms Leifer’s lawyers successfully argued that they needed more time to cross-examine members of the panel before she could face an extradition hearing.

The delays in the case have strained relations between Israel and Australia.

In February, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Israeli President Reuven Rivlin that Australia needs to see justice in the case.

Sisters allege abuse in conservative community

Sisters Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper grew up in the Adass Israel community — a Hasidic Jewish group in Melbourne.

They claim that as teenagers, they were repeatedly sexually abused by their high school principal.

They said they were unaware they were all being molested by their headmistress until years later.

Dassi Erlich sued the Adass Jewish School in 2015, and was awarded $1.27 million in damages against the school and Ms Leifer.

The sisters have voiced frustration over the slow progress of the court proceedings in Israel, saying Ms Leifer must face justice in Australia.