Former principal sentenced for sexual abuse of former students

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing two students in her care. Anti-abuse advocate Manny Waks says it took too long for justice to be served.

Transcript

00:00 to see the process that commenced initially in 2008, when the allegations first surfaced

00:10 and then when the three sisters started going to the police and lodging formal statements

00:16 in 2011.

00:17 And then going through that entire process in Israel, seeking the extradition, Markalei

00:23 for feigning her illness, there were about 75 court hearings in Israel, in which I attended

00:30 the vast majority of those on behalf of the three sisters.

00:35 It's incredible that we actually reached the milestone to getting not only a conviction

00:41 for Markalei for the 15 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 11 and a half

00:46 years.

00:47 I think by all accounts, this is something that's considered a very strong punitive measure.

00:56 And I think that justice has been served.

00:59 And ultimately, we just need to listen and see what the courageous sisters have said.

01:04 And they feel satisfied that justice has been served and they are hopefully ready to move

01:09 forward.

01:10 The fact is, Victoria Police has made it very clear that they are still investigating the

01:16 matter around the Adas leadership and who sent Markalei for overseas to help her avoid

01:23 justice.

01:24 So hopefully, we will see full accountability in that regard.

01:28 At the same time, we also saw some of Israel's most senior people, especially within the

01:35 ultra-Orthodox community, whether it was former Health Minister, Rabbi Yaakov Litzman, whether

01:41 it was some of the other high-level officials who stood by Markalei, tried to do everything

01:47 they could to prevent her from being extradited to Australia to face justice, not just for

01:53 the crimes that she did, but to also potentially stop her from abusing others.

01:59 Hopefully there will be a proper investigation.

02:01 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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