Malka Leifer, an ultra-orthodox Jewish principal has been sentenced to 15 years for abusing two high school students at an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Australia. Leifer raped and assaulted sisters Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper between 2004 and 2007, a jury found in April, BBC reported. At the time Elrich was 16 and Sapper was 17
The mother-of-eight, however, wasn't found guilty of abusing a third sister, Nicole Meyer. The 56 -year-old pleaded not guilty to over two dozen charges. Leifer had been fighting extradition from Israel.
In 2021, however, it was found that she had been faking mental illness and ruled that she be sent to Melbourne. She had fled to Israel in 2008 and was arrested at Australia's request in 2014. She will be eligible for parole after 11 years.
Leifer was not present in person when her sentence was handed down. Reportedly she abused the sisters in locked classrooms, in school camps, and at the head teacher's home.
The sisters were starved for love and emotionally and physically abused at home too and were uneducated about sex. Leifer was revered almost like a rabbi at Adass Israel School.
The sisters viewed Leifer as a mentor and valued alone time with her.
