Australia Jewish School Board Faces Probe for Letting ‘Sex Abuse’ Headmistress Flee
Malka Liefer.
Melbourne police are considering opening a criminal investigation into board members of a Jewish day school who helped a former headmaster flee to Israel ahead of allegations of child sexual abuse.
Malka Leifer, the former principal of Melbourne’s Adass Israel School fled Australia in 2008 ahead of allegations of sexual assault on eight girls at the school.
Leifer is currently under house arrest in Israel as extradition proceedings get underway.
In Melbourne’s Supreme Court earlier this month one of the students was awarded over $1 million in damages from the school over the board’s actions in aiding Leifer to leave after she had been fired, and for its failure to report the incidents to the police.
A spokesperson for Victoria Police told JTA: “Police will be looking at this as a broader part of the investigation to determine whether an offense has been committed.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
