The former headmistress of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school appeared in an Australian court Thursday, hours after her extradition from Israel for child criminality.
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Malka Leifer, an Israeli woman in her 50s, is accused of sexual assault on young girls while she was a teacher and principal of the Adass Israel school in Melbourne.
With her head covered in a white scarf and her face masked, she appeared on Thursday via a video connection in a Melbourne court which ordered her remand in custody.
Ms Leifer, with her head bowed throughout the brief hearing, remained silent as the magistrate addressed her.
She faces 74 counts of rape, indecent assault and sexual assault on young girls, facts that allegedly occurred between 2004 and 2008, according to official documents.
His lawyer, Tony Hargreaves, did not ask for his release on bail but pleaded for his transfer “as quickly as possible” from the police station to a prison allowing better management of his “important mental problems”.
“Ms. Leifer has very strict religious beliefs and special arrangements will have to be made for her to conform to her beliefs,” he added.
She fled Australia for Israel in 2008 after a complaint was filed against her by a former student.
According to Israeli media, she then moved with her family to the Israeli settlement of Immanuel, in the northern occupied West Bank.
Ms Leifer landed in Melbourne on Wednesday evening.
Israel extradited her Monday to Australia, via Germany, hours before the suspension of international flights to and from Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, as part of new health measures aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus variants.
A first extradition attempt, between 2014 and 2016, had failed after her admission to psychiatric institutions, with experts concluding that she was not fit to appear in court.
But private investigators then filmed her shopping, depositing a check in a bank and apparently leading a completely normal life.
The Israeli authorities then launched an investigation into the veracity of his mental disorder, which led to his arrest in February 2018.
Last May, it was established that she was fit to stand trial.
In December, her extradition was allowed after the Israeli Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Ms Leifer.
Due to the measures put in place in Australia to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, she will have to spend 14 days in isolation.
His next court appearance is scheduled for April 9.