Teenage girls from the über-haredi Adass Israel School school in Melbourne were routinely sexually abused by their principal, Malka Leifer, who told them she was preparing them for eventual marriage, an Australian court heard Wednesday.
Above: Malka Leifer
Teen Girls In Über-Haredi School Were Routinely Raped And Abused By Their Female Principal, Court Hears
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Teenage girls from the über-haredi Adass Israel School school in Melbourne were routinely sexually abused by their principal, Malka Leifer, who told them she was preparing them for eventual marriage, an Australian court heard Wednesday.
Both Leifer and the Adass Israel School are now being sued by a former student who alleges she and two of her sisters were sexually abused by Leifer, who was the principal of Adass between 2002 and 2008.
“[Leifer] was seen as the head of the school and the whole community looked up to her and basically idolized her. She was seen as someone who was holier than holy,” the now-27-year-old former Adass student testified, adding that Leifer “ruled the school with an iron rod,” the Herald Sun reported.
The former student said she felt “special” after Leifer offered to tutor her privately. Leifer would take her from the school, the former student testified, and bring her to the Leifer family home where Leifer would sexually abuse her.
“I remember [Leifer] being very scared her husband would come home and find us there,” the former student testified. “I remember her locking the doors. I remember wondering if she realized what she was doing. She would tell me that she loved me and that she really cared for me. She would tell me it was her way of telling me she loved me.”
The former student testified that Leifer also abused her in the school’s principal’s office and other locations. She also testified that she believed other teachers at the school knew about the abuse.
“[Leifer] liked to hug me like a baby, and rock me. She said I should consider her like a mother who loved me, and that I was special,” the former student testified.
Leifer fled to Israel, allegedly with the help of a board member of the school, when the allegations against her first surfaced in 2008 and police were preparing to arrest her. She is currently under house arrest there and faces extradition to Australia where she would face what could be dozens of criminal charges of indecent assault and rape.
The civil trial is ongoing.
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