Leifer remains in jail
Malka Leifer will have to wait a few days until a Supreme Court judge announces her decision on the appeal by the prosecution against the former Melbourne school principal being granted bail allowing her to leave prison and being placed in house arrest.
Malka Leifer
Judge Anat Baron has reserved her decision for a few days following a hearing in which one defence lawyer physically flicked his associate as he rose to speak.
A defence lawyer Tal Gabbay told the court that there was no justification of keeping Malka Leifer in prison. She is fighting an extradition order which, if it is successful, will see her being returned to Melbourne where she is facing 74 charges of child sexual abuse. Leifer had been the principal of the Adass Yisroel girls school.
Gabbay argued that Leifer had been in house arrest before and that the prosecution had not appealed. He also claimed that there is insufficient evidence to extradite his client and that she had been faking mental illness.
Judge Baron asked prosecutor Maton Akiva if there had been sufficient evidence of Leifer faking illness in February 2018 to warrant her being jailed.
The other defence counsel Yehuda Fried alleged that arresting Judge Vinograd has now stated that the evidence is insufficient
At one point, the judge asked Gabbay if he wanted her to kick him out of the court.
Fried quoted Ha’aretz which quotes a senior Australian official commented that this case is impacting detrimentally on the Australian-Israel relationship.
Child sexual abuse advocate Manny Waks was present in the court. He told J-Wire: “After attending today’s hearing, I’m cautiously optimistic that Judge Baron will reverse yesterday’s decision to release Leifer to house arrest. I hope and expect that Leifer will remain in prison until the end of proceedings against her.
Most importantly, Leifer will remain in jail for now.
It was disgraceful of one of the Defence lawyers, Yehuda Fried, to refer so disrespectfully to the Australian Prime Minister, by claiming in court that he’s “only interested in Leifer and kangaroos”. Australians will understandably be offended by this disgusting remark.
We continue to hope for justice to prevail.”
