Australian ultra-Orthodox Jewish principal Malka Leifer received a sentence of up to 15 years in Jail after she was found guilty of sexually abusing two high school students, sisters Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper, according to local media reports.
Leifer was convicted earlier this year of 18 charges of sexual abuse. The charges included rape and sexual abuse.
Leifer has maintained that she is innocent. She was acquitted of nine other charges, including five against the siblings’ older sister Nicole Meyer. The media said that Leifer cried during the sentencing.
The teacher emigrated to Israel in 2001 to take up the position of menaheles at the Adass Israel School. However, she was later extradited to Australia to face the aforementioned charges. During this process, she spent 1,129 days in Israeli custody and 940 days in Australian custody before sentencing.
The victims of Leifer’s sexual abuse
Leifer was found guilty of abusing multiple minors, including two sisters that were under her care from 2004-2007 at the Adass Israel School. The students would continue to be abused once they had become teachers at the school.
The judge read a statement from one of the victims stating that “[Leifer] 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.”