Ultra-Orthodox Jewish principal Malka Leifer will spend up to 15 years behind bars for the insidious sexual abuse of two young high school students.
The sentence brings to a close the decades-long fight by sisters Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper for justice after their abuse at the hands of the respected mentor and mother-of-eight.
Leifer cried as her sentence was handed down.
She was convicted by a jury earlier this year of 18 charges of sexual abuse, including rape and indecent assault.
She was acquitted of nine other charges, including five against the siblings’ older sister Nicole Meyer.
All three sisters were in the Victorian County Court on Thursday when Judge Mark Gamble handed down his sentence and ordered Leifer serve at least 11.5 years in prison.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish principal Malka Leifer will spend up to 15 years behind bars for the insidious sexual abuse of two young high school students
The three sisters (from left), Dassi Erlich, Elly Sapper and Nicole Meyer pictured outside court
Leifer was not there in person, and instead watched proceedings by videolink from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, Melbourne’s maximum security prison.
Leifer targeted the sisters between 2004 and 2007 when they were students at the Adass Israel School, and later in their first year a student teachers.
She was aged between 37 and 41 at the time.
Ms Erlich was aged between 16 and 19 and Ms Sapper aged 17 and 18.
Outside court today, they welcomed the sentence but revealed the trauma they endured on the way to getting the justice they sought.
They said they felt a wave of relief and validation as they learned their abuser would spend years more behind bars.
‘Today’s ruling of 15 years recognises the harm and pain that Malka Leifer caused each one of us to suffer over so many years,’ Ms Sapper said.
‘Trauma from sexual abuse is a lifelong sentence and while no amount of years will ever be sufficient we are relieved that Malka Leifer is now in prison for 15 years and cannot prey on anyone else.’
The sisters campaigned for years to bring Leifer to justice and Ms Erlich said it was because they had not given up that they had the result today.
‘While we know the onus of fighting for justice should not be up to survivors, this fight was never just for us,’ she said.
‘We are showing that the voices of survivors will not and cannot be silenced no matter the obstacles.’
The experience was traumatic and destabilising and she didn’t think she would have got through it had she not had her sisters by her side.
She said their expectation when it came to Leifer’s sentence was so low, the result gave them immediate relief.
‘Female perpetrators are so under-reported and we had nothing to base it on,’ she said.
‘We just felt so grateful that we felt validated in that exact moment.’
Judge Gamble observed in the sentence that the sisters were resilient and surprisingly optimistic, despite Ms Sapper feeling guilt for what happened to her.
‘They were completely innocent victims of the predatory behaviour of Mrs Leifer, and it is she and she alone who should feel guilty,’ Judge Gamble said.
Ms Erlich said with this chapter closed, they would continue to ensure survivors had a voice.
‘You are never alone, we are all behind you and we will continue to ensure that our collective voices will not be unbreakable,’ she said.
In handing down the sentence, Judge Mark Gamble formally took into account 1129 days Leifer spent in custody in Israel, during extradition proceedings, and 940 days in custody in Australia.
He also applied a modest reduction in the sentence, taking into account 608 days under house arrest.
Those days were punitive, he said, but he also took into account accusations she had exaggerated and intensified her mental health conditions to frustrate extradition proceedings during that time.
In an hours-long sentencing hearing, Judge Gamble detailed the grooming and abuse inflicted upon the sisters, who had a difficult home life.
Leifer arrived from Israel in 2001 as menaheles at the Adass Israel School – a highly revered principal position giving her responsibility for the school’s ethos and religious teachings.
The sisters viewed Leifer as a mentor and welcomed the alone time she arranged with them, during which she professed to love them like a mother.
But Judge Gamble said that grooming allowed Leifer to facilitate the abuse.
She also threatened to expose their home life.
‘She knew a lot of things about me and implied if I said anything she would share those things about my home life, which was a big shame to me at the time,’ he read from Ms Erlich’s evidence.
Judge Gamble said some offending against Ms Sapper may have appeared brazen, but she had already tested the waters and as Ms Sapper did not complain she may well have felt confident in continuing to act as she did.
Ms Erlich’s statement in court about the impact of Leifer’s abuse was a powerful illustration of the legacy the insidious abuse left her with, he said, noting one of the most egregious aspects of the harm was the effect it had on her as a mother.
Malka Leifer (pictured being brought into court in Jerusalem in 2018) fought extradition from Israel for years after fleeing there in 2008 when the allegations against her were first made
Ms Sapper described dealing guilt, shame and fear, and continues to blame herself for allowing Leifer to love her.
But Judge Gamble said the sisters were commendably resilient and surprisingly optimistic.
‘They were completely innocent victims of the predatory behaviour of Mrs Leifer, and it is she and she alone who should feel guilty,’ the judge said.
Leifer was educated in Israel and had an early passion for teaching, Judge Gamble said.
Her former colleague, Malky Fixler, said she had been a much respected person within the Adass Israel Community, but the judge said her character and good reputation assisted her in committing the offences.
He noted prison had been difficult given she is the only Jewish woman there, English is not her first language and she has only been able to have two personal visits from immediate family, who all live overseas.
The hearing room was full for the sentence, with former premier Ted Baillieu and Victorian MP David Southwick in attendance.
A psychologist said Leifer was struggling with the jury’s guilty verdicts, maintaining she is not guilty.
The judge came to the view Leifer’s experience in custody in Australia had been onerous and that would likely continue.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800
Timeline of teacher’s sex abuse
2001
* Malka Leifer arrives from Israel at Melbourne’s Adass Israel School
2003 – 2006
* Alleged abuse of Nicole Meyer – charges 1-5
2004 – 2006
* Abuse of Dassi Erlich – charges 8-19
2006 – 2007
* Abuse of Elly Sapper – charges 22-29
2008
* Leifer is dismissed by school board after allegations raised, travels to Israel
2011
* The sisters make statements to Victoria Police
2014
* Leifer is arrested on 74 charges and held on home detention. Extradition proceedings begin
* Ms Sapper sues for damages and receives a confidential out-of-court settlement
2015
* Ms Erlich is refused an out-of-court settlement. She sues and is awarded damages
2016
* Leifer is found unfit to face an extradition trial
2017
* Ms Erlich launches #BringLeiferBack
* Ms Meyer receives a confidential out-of-court settlement
Israeli-born Australian Malka Leifer, right, is pictured being brought to a courtroom in Jerusalem on February 27, 2018
2018
* Israeli Police accuse Leifer of feigning mental illness
* Jerusalem’s chief psychiatrist recommends that Leifer is fit to face an extradition hearing
2019
* Two psychiatrists tell a court Leifer is fit to be extradited, another two say she is not
2020
* Leifer is found mentally fit to stand trial and then mentally fit for extradition in her 71st court hearing
* The extradition order is signed
2021
* Leifer arrives in Melbourne shortly before borders close because of the COVID-19 pandemic
* She is ordered to stand trial and pleads not guilty
2023
* Leifer pleads not guilty again when her Victorian County Court trial begins in February
* In April, jurors convict her of 18 offences relating to Ms Erlich and Ms Sapper. She is acquitted of nine charges, five of which related to Ms Meyer and four involving Ms Erlich.
* Leifer is sentenced on Thursday to 15 years’ prison, with a non-parole period of 11.5 years, with about five-and-a-half years already served.
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