Case 334: Nicole Meyer, Dassi Erlich & Elly Sapper

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please see the show notes for this episode on your
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app or on our website. In the spring of 2000,
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the Adas Israel School in the Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick
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needed to hire a new senior school teacher. Finding the
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right person wouldn't be an easy task. The all-girls school
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catered to a small, ultra-Orthodox Jewish community known as the
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Adas Israel Congregation that was based in a small pocket
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of Melbourne's inner-southeast. Students who attended the school adhered to
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a strict religious upbringing and were sheltered from broader society.
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The community was so insular that they had their own shops,
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their own medical service, and their own rules for raising children.
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Children were not allowed to watch television, listen to the radio,
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or access the internet. Only certain reading materials were permitted.
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Outside of a family setting, girls were not permitted to
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mix with boys, and stories that featured girls and boys
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being friends were forbidden. Girls were primarily expected to become
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wives and mothers, and much of their education centred around this.
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Unlike most other schools in the state, Adas Israel did
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not adhere to a Victorian Certificate of Education curriculum. Its
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final two years primarily consisted of a program that saw
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students trained to become teachers within the community. For many years,
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an elderly, highly respected female teacher had been responsible for
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the program. When she passed away, her position had to
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be filled. The school board began looking for suitable recruits
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overseas in Israel, considering teachers from ultra-orthodox communities over there
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One school board member had heard about a particular teacher
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who sounded promising, a charismatic 33-year-old with glowing references. Her
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name was Malka Leifer. Within a matter of months, Malka
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Leifer relocated to Australia to be head of Jewish Studies
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at Adas Israel and to teach the senior school program.
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For the students, seeing a new face in their small,
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tight-knit community was a big deal, and Mrs. Leifer was
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nothing like the teachers they were used to. Most other
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teachers at the school were aloof and reserved, but Mrs.
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Leifer was warm, vivacious, and charming, with a good sense
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of humour. From the moment she arrived, she engaged with
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students and took the time to chat with them one-on-one.
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The overall consensus amongst the girls at Adas Israel School
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was that Malka Leifa was a breath of fresh air.
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Born in 1985, Nicole Sapper had attended Adas Israel School
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since her very first year of primary school. The third
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of seven siblings, Nicole's home was devoid of parental love.
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While her father was mostly absent when it came to parenting,
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Nicole's mother was emotionally and physically abusive. She played her
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children off against one another by favouring some and excluding others.
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These dynamics shifted from week to week so that Nicole
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and her siblings never knew when they would be cast
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in the role of the bad child. When their mother
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was angry, she would hit, kick and beat them. Punishments
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for perceived wrongdoings included missing out on meals, being shut
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out of the house or locked in a small dark
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cupboard under the stairs. Nicole's mother was also incredibly controlling.
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If the children were even 10 minutes late home from school,
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she would fly into a rage. Sometimes she would pull
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Nicole out of school for a day and demand she
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complete domestic chores around the house instead. Nicole and her
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siblings kept this abuse a secret. They already felt like
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outsiders within their community. Unlike most other members of the
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Adas congregation, The Sapper family did not have relatives who
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had been murdered in or survived the Holocaust, nor were
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they from an Eastern European background. Instead, Nicole's parents had
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immigrated to Australia from the Middle East. This different background
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led to Nicole's mother constantly telling her children that all
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they had was their good name. If they wanted decent
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marriage prospects and bright futures … then they had to
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behave impeccably. And if anyone in the community discovered the
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truth about their home life, it would lower their standing
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even further. School was Nicole's one escape. She was an
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intelligent child who loved studying so much that she would
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complete her homework quickly, then ask for more. When Malka
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Leifer arrived to teach at the school in 2001, she
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began working closely with the students who were in their
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final years. This meant Nicole, who was 16 years old
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and in year 10, became acquainted with her quickly. Like
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other students, Nicole was struck by Mrs Leifer's warmth and
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outgoing personality. The young teacher took a real interest in
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her students. It wasn't unusual for her to call individual
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girls out of class and into her office for a
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chat so she could get to know them better. Mrs
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Leifer's kind and friendly demeanour was unlike anything Nicole had
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experienced before. She felt safe talking to her. Over time,
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Nicole began to open up to Mrs Leifer more and more. Eventually,
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she told her about her struggles at home. It was
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the first time she had confided in anyone about the abuse.
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To Nicole's relief, Mrs Leifer provided a supportive and sympathetic ear.
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During her first year at Adas Israel School, Mrs Leifer's
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standing in the community grew. As well as holding her
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own prestigious position at the congregation's all-girls school, Mrs Leifer's
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husband was a rabbi. Wives of rabbis were given the
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title of Rabbitson, which was an esteemed role to hold
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within Orthodox Judaism. Other members of the congregation looked up
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to Mrs Leifer and considered it an honour to be
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close with her. If she needed assistance, they were eager
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to offer it. She couldn't drive, so people went out
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of their way to give her lifts. At the end
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of 2002, there was a restructure at Adas Israel School
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and Mrs Leifer received a promotion. She was made principal,
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putting her in charge of both the primary and secondary schools.
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By the beginning of 2003, Nicole Sapper was in year 12.
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Her sister Darcy was two years her junior and starting
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year 10. Just like Nicole, Dussie was very unhappy at home.
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Her mother's abuse and controlling behaviour was an awful secret
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that weighed heavily on her. One day, Dussie was approached
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by Mrs Leifer, who asked to speak with her. To
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Dussie's surprise, Mrs Leifer explained that she knew all about
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what Dussie was going through. She also offered to help her.
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Dussie knew that her elder sister Nicole was close with
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Mrs Leifer. The relationship appeared to be a positive one.
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Mrs Leifer was supportive of Nicole and would often favour
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her by taking her out of class for special projects
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or activities. Now, Mrs Leifer began showing the same care
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for Darcy. The two would meet one-on-one in Mrs Leifer's
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office where the teacher would express concern for Darcy's home life.
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Mrs Leifer also arranged for Darcy to attend extra classes
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on Sundays. These lessons would focus on Jewish morals and
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values and take place both at school and at Mrs
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Leifer's home. This special treatment from such a well-regarded community
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leader was seen as an enormous privilege. There was real
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status in being one of Mrs Leifer's favourites. Even Darcy's
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mother was flattered that Mrs Leifer would take such an
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interest in her daughter's education. At home, Darcy felt unworthy,
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but when Mrs Leifer showered her with attention, she felt
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cared for and special. It was the first time she'd
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ever felt loved. Dussie began confiding in Mrs Leifer, just
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as Nicole had done, and trusted her completely. One day
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she wrote in her diary, quote, I love Mrs Leifer.
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She is the only person I feel has ever loved me.
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Mrs Leifer had always been a touchy-feely person. She would
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touch students' shoulders often as she guided them down corridors
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or sometimes give them a quick pat on the back
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or leg. Although this behaviour was highly unusual in the
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Adas community and none of the other teachers ever touched
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their students, nobody ever questioned Mrs Leifer's actions. They were
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seen as further evidence of her warm nature. But when
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Dussie was 15 years old … the attention from Mrs.
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Leifer took a turn. The teacher's touches began to escalate.
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During their meetings at school, Mrs. Leifer would take Dussie
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into her office, close the door and shutter the blinds.
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Then she would rub Dussie's back and thighs over the
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top of her school uniform.
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Mrs.
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Leifer told Dussie that she loved her and felt like
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a mother to her. These touches were her way of
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showing how close she felt to her. Then they escalated further.
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As well as touching Dussie in her office, Mrs Leifer
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touched her during their one-on-one classes at her home and
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during school camps. She began removing Dussie's clothes and focusing
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on the 15-year-old's stomach and breasts. Eventually, she started to
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digitally rape Dussie and would take the teenager's hand and
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place it on her own body. Throughout this abuse, Mrs
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Leifer repeatedly told Dussie how much she loved her. Dussie
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felt frozen in place, unable to move or speak. Dussie's
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strict religious upbringing meant that she had no knowledge of
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sex or sexual abuse and Children in the Adas community
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didn't receive sexual education. Once they were engaged and planning
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a wedding, they would attend classes to learn about matters
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relating to marriage. This focus on modesty extended to Darcy's
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home life. She would only remove her clothes, which consisted
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of long skirts and sleeves, in the privacy of the bathroom.
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No one ever saw her naked body and she never
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saw anyone else's either. until Mrs. Leifer began abusing her.
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Darcy didn't have the language to describe her body parts
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or an understanding that would allow her to articulate the abuse,
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but she was intuitively aware that what Mrs. Leifer was
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doing was wrong. She was overwhelmed by feelings of shame,
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embarrassment and fear. She knew how powerful Mrs Leifer was
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and was aware that Mrs Leifer knew secrets about Dussie's
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home life. If those secrets were exposed, the community's matchmakers
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who arranged marriages wouldn't find Dussie a husband. Although Mrs
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Leifer was charming and charismatic, she also had a nasty streak.
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If there was someone in the community who she didn't like,
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she would turn against them. and had the power to
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turn others against them too. She wasn't above doing the
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same to her students. Mrs Leifer would pick on girls
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whom she didn't like and make rude comments about them.
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She was known to be hot and cold by showering
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particular students with attention for a couple of weeks, then
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giving them the cold shoulder. This behaviour left the targeted
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girls distressed and confused. Everyone wanted to be liked by
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Mrs Leifer. If a student suddenly found herself in Mrs
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Leifer's bad books, her friends would often avoid her, scared
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the principal would also turn against them by association. Dussie
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felt powerless and had no idea how to stop what
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was happening. The abuse continued over months and then years.
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In 2005, when Darcy was in her final year of school,
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she became engaged to a young man. Mrs Leifer began
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telling her the abuse was beneficial as it would teach
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her what to do when she was married. On one occasion,
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she kissed Darcy on the mouth. Darcy hadn't even been
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aware that this was something people did. By the end
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of the school year, Darcy graduated at the age of 18.
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But Mrs Leifer was so ingrained in her life that
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the abuse didn't stop there. She continued to abuse Darcy
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over the summer months. At the start of the next
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school year, Darcy returned to Adas Israel in a teaching role.
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Mrs Leifer was now Darcy's boss. The abuse increased over
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the next eight months until Dussie was married in September
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2006 and moved with her new husband to Israel. Now
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named Dussie Ehrlich, this was a chance for her to
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start a new life almost 14,000 kilometres away. But Dussie
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continued to struggle. A few months after she arrived in Israel,
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the nightmares started. Bad dreams about what she'd endured at
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the hands of her former school principal invaded her sleep.
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When Darcy wasn't having nightmares, she was lying awake at night,
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plagued by insomnia. Her waking hours were equally fraught, with
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memories of what happened back in Melbourne abruptly invading Darcy's mind.
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She grappled with anxiety and flashbacks for months. Finally, Darcy
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decided to seek professional help. She was aware that a
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social worker she knew from Melbourne was now living nearby.
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Hannah Rabinowitz had been employed as a consultant at a
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Das Israel school between 2001 and 2006 and had worked
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with students and families there. About a year after Darcy
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arrived in Israel, she began having counselling sessions with Hannah Rabinowitz.
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Darcy didn't tell Hannah the extent of what she had
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been suffering. Instead, she explained that she was having difficulty
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adjusting to marriage and was feeling isolated in a new
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country so far away from home. Hannah Rabinowitz had the
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distinct impression that there was more going on than that.
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She felt as though Darcy might be repressing something. The
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two continued their sessions together over the next few months.
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During one appointment in February 2008, Hannah realised that Darcy
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had clearly been abused by somebody in the past. She
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asked Darcy directly, Who hurt you? Hunched over and obviously distraught,
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Darcy whispered, Mrs Leifer. A few days later, Darcy's sister
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Nicole received a phone call back in Melbourne, On the
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other end was social worker Hanna Rabinowitz, who Nicole remembered
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from Hanna's time in Melbourne. Hanna didn't waste any time.
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in explaining the reason for her call, stating, Darcy gave
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me permission to call you. I just wanted to ask
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if you were abused too. By this time, Nicole was
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22 years old and working as a teacher at a
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00:20:07.740 --> 00:20:11.829
Das Israel school. She had been teaching there for several
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years following her graduation in 2003. Nicole had also married,
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changed her name to Nicole Meyer and given birth to
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her first child. Through all of these milestones, Malka Leifer
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had been a constant presence in Nicole's life. Mrs Leifer
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was still the principal of the school and Nicole worked
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with her every day. Nicole had struggled to tell anyone
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about the impact Mrs Leifer had held over her for
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00:20:43.710 --> 00:20:47.970
so long, but when she was confronted by Hannah's direct question,
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she answered automatically, Yes, I was. The abuse Nicole had
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suffered at the hands of Mrs Leifer followed a very
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00:21:01.319 --> 00:21:06.079
similar pattern to Darcy's. Not long after they met, Mrs
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00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:10.670
Leifer had started grooming Nicole and gaining her trust. She
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singled her out for special treatment and gave her one-on-one
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Sunday classes. Mrs Leifer had gradually pushed boundaries by first
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touching Nicole over her school uniform, then progressing to more
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overt sexual abuse. After a couple of years, when Nicole
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was participating in the school's teacher training program, the abuse intensified.
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This program involved working very closely with Mrs. Leifer in
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a more isolated part of the school. It meant that Mrs.
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Leifer had greater access to Nicole than she'd ever had before,
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and the control she exerted over Nicole became increasingly extreme.
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She assaulted Nicole at the school and at her home,
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where she had Nicole over for weekly meals to mark
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the Jewish Sabbath. School camps were another opportunity for Mrs
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00:22:05.829 --> 00:22:11.079
Leifer to commit abuse. Nicole first attended these as a student,
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then later as a teacher. On one occasion, Mrs Leifer
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00:22:16.099 --> 00:22:21.529
insisted on sharing her bed. Nicole covered herself up entirely,
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even wearing thick tights to sleep in, hoping they would
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00:22:25.029 --> 00:22:31.829
deter Mrs Leifer. But they didn't. During one camp, while
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Nicole was teaching but Darcy was still a student, the
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two sisters shared a room with twin beds. Late at night,
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when Mrs Leifer believed Darcy was sleeping, she climbed into
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Nicole's bed and raped her. The next day, Darcy gave
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Nicole a knowing look, which Nicole returned. Without exchanging a word,
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the sisters knew for the first time that they were
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both victims of the same woman. Nicole began teaching at
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Adas Israel in 2004. That same year, she also became
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engaged to a young man. He was the son of
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a woman whom Mrs Leifer disliked and Mrs Leifer made
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it clear to Nicole how disappointed she was. After Mrs
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Leifer continually demanded she break off the engagement, Nicole finally
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gave in to the pressure just five weeks before the wedding.
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She called her fiancé and read from a script Mrs
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Leifer had provided, telling him they could not get married.
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Nicole subsequently became engaged to another man. In the seven
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weeks leading up to her wedding, Mrs Leifer repeatedly raped her,
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telling Nicole she was preparing her for marriage. The abuse
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continued after Nicole was married. A turning point came when
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she was four months pregnant with her first child. During
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00:24:06.309 --> 00:24:09.170
one assault, when Mrs Leifer was lying on top of her,
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Nicole became terrified that her baby might be crushed by
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the much larger woman. As much as possible, she began
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avoiding situations where she was alone with Mrs Leifer. and
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the abuse lessened. But it didn't stop. Time went on
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and Nicole Meyer gave birth to her first child. She
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also continued to teach at a Das Israel school. She
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didn't speak of the abuse to anyone until she received
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the call from Hanna Rabinowitz in late February 2008. A
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few days after the phone call, Nicole was at work
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teaching when Malka Leifer suddenly entered her classroom. She looked scared.
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It was the first time Nicole had ever seen Mrs
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Leifer appear unsettled. She pulled Nicole out of the classroom
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and began to ask her what she knew and what
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was going on. Nicole said she didn't know anything and
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Mrs Leifer left. Behind the scenes, word had started to
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spread about Darcy's allegations. Darcy had told Hanna Rabinowitz that
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one of her classmates was abused by Mrs Leifer as well.
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The girl's mother was a staff member at a Das
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Israel school, so Darcy told Hanna to call her. Hanna
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did so, which prompted the staff member to ask her
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daughter if she had been abused. The daughter said she was.
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Five days later, on Wednesday March 5 2008, an urgent
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meeting was convened at the home of prominent Adas Israel
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figure and renowned philanthropist, Izzy Herzog. Those in attendance included
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two school board members, a teacher from the school, a barrister,
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and Herzog's daughter, who was a forensic psychologist. After some discussion,
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it was decided that Malka Leifer should be stood down
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as principals. The group called Mrs Leifer at home and
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put her on loudspeaker. When they brought up the allegations,
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Mrs Leifer angrily refuted them, stating, You have destroyed my reputation.
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I'm not going to stand for this. I'm leaving. I resign.
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By the following morning, she had disappeared completely. Casefile will
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00:26:49.559 --> 00:26:53.170
be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening
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Without any explanation, Malka Leifer vanished from the school she
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00:29:10.329 --> 00:29:15.210
led and the broader Adas community. She left Elstenwick with
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four of her eight children. The others and her husband
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00:29:20.200 --> 00:29:25.359
would soon follow. On Friday March 7, two days after
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the school board meeting, staff at Adas Israel were told
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00:29:29.019 --> 00:29:32.380
that Mrs Leifer had been stood down and decided to
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return to Israel. The sudden absence of such a prominent
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00:29:37.789 --> 00:29:42.789
and revered leader sent shockwaves. through the community. People were
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00:29:42.849 --> 00:29:45.910
devastated that an integral part of their world was missing
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and rampant speculation began to spread as to who was responsible.
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00:29:51.579 --> 00:29:55.319
Who were the girls who had made allegations against Mrs Leifer?
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Nicole Meyer found herself feeling totally alone. The abuse had
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00:30:02.579 --> 00:30:06.180
ended with Mrs Leifer's departure, but she was still suffering
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00:30:06.220 --> 00:30:10.539
the effects, and now the entire community was speculating about it.
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Nicole felt she couldn't tell her husband or anyone else
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00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:19.390
what had happened to her. Her sister Darcy was the
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one person who might be able to relate, but she
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00:30:22.369 --> 00:30:24.650
was living on the other side of the world in Israel.
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00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:31.829
Darcy was struggling as well. Her symptoms of post-traumatic stress
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00:30:31.849 --> 00:30:38.150
disorder continued and she began to self-harm. In 2009, she
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00:30:38.190 --> 00:30:41.789
became pregnant with her first child and the following year
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she gave birth to a daughter. But what should have
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00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:49.180
been a happy time was also impacted by Darcy's years
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of trauma. Breastfeeding her baby triggered traumatic flashbacks of the abuse.
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Darcy began to battle suicidal thoughts and was ultimately admitted
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00:31:00.579 --> 00:31:07.710
to a psychiatric hospital for a time. Another sibling of
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Darcy and Nicole's had also started reflecting on her own
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00:31:11.190 --> 00:31:16.460
traumas after Malka Leifer left Melbourne. Ellie Sapper was one
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00:31:16.519 --> 00:31:21.140
year younger than Darcy. Like her older sisters, she had
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00:31:21.180 --> 00:31:25.809
attended the Adas Israel School and, like her sisters, Ellie
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00:31:25.829 --> 00:31:29.069
had yearned for love and attention that she didn't receive
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at home. She saw the affectionate way that Mrs Leifer
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treated her sisters and how she nurtured and encouraged them.
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Ellie was in awe of her. Mrs Leifer's caring nature
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seemed to prove that it was possible to be loved.
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Nicole and Darcy cautioned Ellie to stay away from Mrs Leifer,
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though they didn't say why. They didn't have the word
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to explain what the principal did to them. By the
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end of 2005, Nicole was in her second year of
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teaching and Darcy was about to graduate. Ellie was 16
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years old and preparing to finish year 11. This was
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when Mrs Leifer started paying attention to her. She began
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grooming Ellie as she'd done to Nicole and Darcy years earlier.
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She was the first person to ever tell Ellie that
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she loved her. And then she progressed to sexually abusing her,
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explaining that this was how she expressed her love. In total,
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it continued for two years. After leaving school at the
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end of 2006, Ellie began slowly distancing herself from the
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ADAS congregations. She made new friends from Melbourne's wider Jewish community,
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who followed a more contemporary interpretation of the religion. Ellie
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became particularly close to a young man named David, a
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friendship which would have been forbidden in the ultra-Orthodox circle
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Ellie was raised in. David was struck by how sheltered
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Ellie was. There were so many things about modern life
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that she'd never been exposed to before. A little over
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a year after Ellie graduated, Darcy's allegations against Malka Leifer
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prompted Mrs Leifer to leave Melbourne. The fallout within the
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Adas community led to Ellie questioning what she'd endured. Slowly,
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she began confiding in David about the abuse. David was
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horrified and encouraged Ellie to inform the police. Ellie hadn't
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been aware that this was something she could even do.
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After months of encouragement from David, the two of them
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finally went to a police station together one day in 2010.
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Ellie was nervous, but finally ready to report the abuse.
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Ellie didn't tell her sisters what she had done, but
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Darcy had since moved back to Melbourne and her own
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struggles gradually led her to distance herself from the Adas
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community as well. In mid-2011, she decided to make her
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own statement to the police. A few months later in October,
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Nicole did the same. Armed with three corroborating reports accusing
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the same woman of sexual abuse, the police took the
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case seriously and began to investigate. There was evidence that
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the three Sapper sisters were not Malka Leifer's only victims.
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In total, she was suspected of abusing between 8 and
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14 girls at Adas Israel School. Victoria Police ultimately wrote
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up an arrest warrant for 74 counts of child sexual abuse,
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with charges ranging from indecent assault to rape. The police
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told the three sisters that because Malka Leifer was now
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living in Israel, they would have to obtain an extradition order.
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As Australia had an extradition agreement with Israel, the sisters
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were given the impression that having Mrs Leifer returned to
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the country would be a fairly straightforward process. It involved
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police in Melbourne sending papers requesting Malka Leifer's extradition to
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law enforcement in Australia's capital city of Canberra. After approving
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the request, Canberra officials would then forward it to Israeli authorities.
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In all, they could expect the extradition request to be
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acted on within 12 to 18 months. But two years
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00:35:59.469 --> 00:36:06.199
passed with no news. Then, in September 2014, Malka Leifa
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was suddenly arrested by law enforcement officers in Bnei Brak,
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a city just east of Tel Aviv that is a
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centre of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. When Nicole Meyer received a call
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back in Melbourne informing her of the news, she almost
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dropped the phone in shock. The day that she and
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her sisters had long awaited was finally here. Malka Leifer
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spent two months in custody before her lawyers successfully argued
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that she be kept under house arrest while the extradition
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00:36:38.780 --> 00:36:43.369
hearings took place. However … Once Mrs Leifer was back
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living with her family, she complained that she was suffering
469
00:36:46.530 --> 00:36:49.539
panic attacks and extreme anxiety in the lead up to
470
00:36:49.579 --> 00:36:56.780
her extradition hearing. A delay was granted. Then, Mrs Leifer
471
00:36:56.820 --> 00:37:02.059
stopped showing up at court altogether. Her attorneys explained that
472
00:37:02.099 --> 00:37:05.099
her mental health had deteriorated so much that she was
473
00:37:05.159 --> 00:37:08.820
incapable of attending or even understanding what was going on
474
00:37:08.900 --> 00:37:13.619
in the courtroom. Israeli law requires a suspect or a
475
00:37:13.659 --> 00:37:16.980
defendant to be present for all hearings pertaining to them.
476
00:37:18.300 --> 00:37:21.320
Each time Mrs Leifer failed to attend a hearing, it
477
00:37:21.360 --> 00:37:26.559
was postponed to a later date. But she never returned.
478
00:37:28.940 --> 00:37:34.639
Months passed, and then years. In total, Mrs Leifer was
479
00:37:34.699 --> 00:37:38.389
given more than 35 court dates, most of which she
480
00:37:38.469 --> 00:37:43.039
failed to attend. Her lawyers explained that her health had
481
00:37:43.079 --> 00:37:46.510
deteriorated so badly that she now needed a carer to
482
00:37:46.550 --> 00:37:50.969
look after her. She couldn't communicate and was described as
483
00:37:51.030 --> 00:37:54.769
being like, quote, a sack of potatoes in terms of
484
00:37:54.829 --> 00:38:01.380
her mental capacity. At the beginning of 2016, the psychiatrist
485
00:38:01.420 --> 00:38:05.929
for the court submitted a report that stated, quote, The
486
00:38:05.969 --> 00:38:10.179
patient is totally non-functional, confined to her bed and is
487
00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:12.739
on the verge of having a power of attorney appointed
488
00:38:12.820 --> 00:38:19.280
for her. By mid-2016, the focus had turned from whether
489
00:38:19.340 --> 00:38:22.099
she was well enough to attend the hearings to whether
490
00:38:22.199 --> 00:38:26.449
she was even capable of standing trial at all. A
491
00:38:26.489 --> 00:38:30.130
loophole in Israeli law meant that individuals who are mentally
492
00:38:30.230 --> 00:38:37.760
unwell cannot face extradition hearings. In June 2016, a judge
493
00:38:37.860 --> 00:38:42.760
ruled that the current situation could not continue. It was
494
00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:49.019
ordered that the extradition hearing be suspended altogether. Instead, Mrs
495
00:38:49.079 --> 00:38:52.139
Leifer would have to appear before a psychiatric panel once
496
00:38:52.239 --> 00:38:56.309
every six months. This arrangement would be put in place
497
00:38:56.590 --> 00:39:00.949
for 10 years. Leifer would no longer be kept on
498
00:39:00.989 --> 00:39:09.690
house arrest and was now free to go wherever she wanted, Nicole,
499
00:39:09.869 --> 00:39:14.699
Darcy and Ellie were devastated. It had been five years
500
00:39:14.820 --> 00:39:18.000
since they reported the crimes to police and now it
501
00:39:18.059 --> 00:39:23.050
felt as though Mrs Leifer would never be held accountable. Moreover,
502
00:39:23.360 --> 00:39:26.869
they had all suffered immense personal losses due to reporting
503
00:39:26.929 --> 00:39:31.860
their allegations. Although they hadn't gone public or been named
504
00:39:31.900 --> 00:39:35.760
in the media, those within the Adas congregation knew who
505
00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:40.900
was behind the accusations. This led to many people shunning
506
00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:46.480
and ostracising the three sisters. Those who were supportive said nothing,
507
00:39:46.980 --> 00:39:51.949
too scared to speak out. Then there were others who
508
00:39:52.050 --> 00:39:57.309
actively tried to stop the sisters' pursuit of justice. Nicole,
509
00:39:57.489 --> 00:40:00.840
Darcy and Ellie had an older sister named Dahlia who
510
00:40:00.889 --> 00:40:05.760
lived in Manchester, England. She was residing in an ultra-Orthodox
511
00:40:05.820 --> 00:40:09.280
community there and worked as a principal at a religious school.
512
00:40:10.980 --> 00:40:17.119
In August 2014, 39-year-old Dahlia was approached by two ultra-Orthodox
513
00:40:17.199 --> 00:40:21.849
men with connections to Malka Leifar. They had flown to
514
00:40:21.909 --> 00:40:26.960
Manchester from Israel just to speak to her. The men
515
00:40:27.039 --> 00:40:29.900
told Dahlia that she should tell her younger sisters to
516
00:40:29.960 --> 00:40:34.920
drop the charges against Malka Leifer. They warned Dahlia that
517
00:40:34.980 --> 00:40:38.429
if Nicole, Darcy and Ellie continued with the case against
518
00:40:38.510 --> 00:40:42.889
Mrs Leifer, then their other family members, including Dahlia, would
519
00:40:42.969 --> 00:40:48.269
be impacted. Dahlia would have her career destroyed and her
520
00:40:48.329 --> 00:40:55.719
children's marriage prospects would be ruined. Dahlia was distressed. She
521
00:40:55.760 --> 00:40:58.920
went to a rabbi in her community and asked for advice.
522
00:41:00.059 --> 00:41:03.619
He took the men's side, encouraging Dahlia to do as
523
00:41:03.679 --> 00:41:09.920
they said and remain silent against Mrs Leifer. This advice
524
00:41:10.159 --> 00:41:15.400
devastated her even further. Dahlia called her sisters back in
525
00:41:15.440 --> 00:41:19.380
Melbourne and told them what had happened. She reassured them
526
00:41:19.480 --> 00:41:23.340
that she wouldn't act on the threats, stating, Within two
527
00:41:23.360 --> 00:41:25.340
weeks of being approached by the men, Dahlia died from
528
00:41:25.380 --> 00:41:41.449
heart-related issues. Nicole, Darcy and Ellie were certain that the
529
00:41:41.530 --> 00:41:46.199
threats had taken a fatal toll on Dahlia. They saw
530
00:41:46.260 --> 00:41:51.320
their sister as another victim of Malka Leifer. Her sudden
531
00:41:51.380 --> 00:41:56.940
death devastated them, but they refused to drop their cases. Instead,
532
00:41:57.340 --> 00:42:03.269
they began to fight harder. In 2015, Darcy Ehrlich filed
533
00:42:03.329 --> 00:42:10.440
a civil suit against Adas Israel School. In March 2017,
534
00:42:10.440 --> 00:42:13.460
the year after Malka Leifer was freed from house arrest
535
00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:17.380
and appearing in court, Darcy made the decision to go public.
536
00:42:18.639 --> 00:42:21.920
She began talking with the media about her allegations and
537
00:42:22.039 --> 00:42:27.179
openly campaigning for other survivors of child sexual abuse. She
538
00:42:27.239 --> 00:42:30.829
also started meeting with politicians and other officials whom she
539
00:42:30.889 --> 00:42:33.650
hoped could help in the fight to return Mrs Leifer
540
00:42:33.670 --> 00:42:41.699
to Melbourne. Darcy dubbed her campaign... Bring Leifer back. Then,
541
00:42:41.900 --> 00:42:45.199
two months later, Nicole received a text message from a
542
00:42:45.239 --> 00:42:50.280
former classmate. The classmate's sister had been attending a religious
543
00:42:50.340 --> 00:42:53.960
festival in northern Israel when she noticed a familiar face
544
00:42:54.059 --> 00:43:01.360
amongst the crowd. It was Malka Leifer. Despite Leifer's lawyers
545
00:43:01.480 --> 00:43:04.519
arguing she was housebound and needed a carer to help
546
00:43:04.539 --> 00:43:10.309
her function, she looked strong and healthy. The classmate's sister
547
00:43:10.389 --> 00:43:13.949
snapped a photo of Leifer and the classmate forwarded it
548
00:43:14.010 --> 00:43:19.059
to Nicole. Seeing Leifer casually standing out in public with
549
00:43:19.159 --> 00:43:23.980
no sign that she was unwell was galling. It seemed
550
00:43:24.139 --> 00:43:27.500
to completely refute the claims that Leifer was bedridden and
551
00:43:27.619 --> 00:43:32.150
unable to attend court. Nicole sent the photo to Darcy
552
00:43:32.309 --> 00:43:36.670
who posted it on Facebook. From there, it went viral.
553
00:43:37.099 --> 00:43:45.340
and Darcy's campaign picked up speed. Within several months, Nicole
554
00:43:45.400 --> 00:43:50.260
and Ellie went public alongside Darcy. They gained the support
555
00:43:50.300 --> 00:43:55.449
of Australia's Prime Minister and Victoria's Premier. The story made
556
00:43:55.550 --> 00:43:59.690
major headlines all over the country and word spread internationally.
557
00:44:01.699 --> 00:44:06.219
In November 2017, the three sisters travelled to Jerusalem to
558
00:44:06.260 --> 00:44:11.090
campaign for life as extradition. The nine-day visit was packed
559
00:44:11.119 --> 00:44:15.610
with meetings with Israeli politicians, the Israeli Justice Minister and
560
00:44:15.630 --> 00:44:20.610
the country's top prosecutor. The sisters also met with other
561
00:44:20.650 --> 00:44:25.989
survivors and victims' advocates. One individual who reached out to
562
00:44:26.030 --> 00:44:30.769
them was Shana Aronson. the Israeli director of Jewish Community Watch,
563
00:44:31.230 --> 00:44:35.670
a global organisation aimed at preventing child sexual abuse within
564
00:44:35.829 --> 00:44:41.579
Orthodox Judaism. Shana was well aware of how Israel could
565
00:44:41.599 --> 00:44:44.659
be used as a safe haven by some sex offenders.
566
00:44:46.280 --> 00:44:49.880
After six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, the
567
00:44:49.920 --> 00:44:53.159
State of Israel was founded on the basis of protecting
568
00:44:53.260 --> 00:44:58.500
Jewish people from persecution elsewhere. One of the country's foundational
569
00:44:58.559 --> 00:45:02.139
laws was the Law of Return, which gave all Jews
570
00:45:02.239 --> 00:45:08.059
the right to move there and become Israeli citizens. According
571
00:45:08.119 --> 00:45:11.940
to Shana Aronson and others working in child protection in Israel,
572
00:45:12.340 --> 00:45:15.179
this had led to a number of incidents where individuals
573
00:45:15.239 --> 00:45:18.610
wanted for sex crimes in other countries would hide out
574
00:45:18.690 --> 00:45:24.030
in Israel. At the time, there were 64 other suspected
575
00:45:24.130 --> 00:45:29.070
sexual offenders who were allegedly seeking refuge there. Most of
576
00:45:29.130 --> 00:45:34.289
these people were either orthodox or ultra-orthodox. They would move
577
00:45:34.349 --> 00:45:38.099
into isolated and insular communities within Israel where it was
578
00:45:38.139 --> 00:45:44.199
harder for authorities to access them. Shana agreed with Nicole
579
00:45:44.300 --> 00:45:48.159
D'Arciandelli that Malka Leifer was likely lying about her ill
580
00:45:48.199 --> 00:45:52.900
health in order to evade justice. It just seemed too
581
00:45:52.980 --> 00:45:56.719
coincidental that a fifth and able-bodied woman, who was also
582
00:45:56.780 --> 00:46:00.679
a community leader, would suddenly deteriorate right in the middle
583
00:46:00.760 --> 00:46:05.230
of being taken to court. Shana Aronson believed that if
584
00:46:05.289 --> 00:46:08.869
they could show Leifer was lying, then Israeli authorities would
585
00:46:08.909 --> 00:46:13.809
be forced to re-arrest her. And she had a plan
586
00:46:14.070 --> 00:46:25.110
as to how they could prove it. Casefile will be
587
00:46:25.170 --> 00:46:28.789
back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to
588
00:46:28.829 --> 00:46:35.340
this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads.
589
00:46:35.920 --> 00:46:39.829
By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to
590
00:46:39.869 --> 00:46:52.889
deliver quality content. Emmanuel is a small, impoverished Israeli settlement
591
00:46:53.010 --> 00:46:56.610
on the West Bank near Jerusalem. It is one of
592
00:46:56.730 --> 00:47:03.159
eight ultra-Orthodox settlements along the West Bank. In 2016, after
593
00:47:03.239 --> 00:47:06.019
it was ruled that Malka Leifer would no longer have
594
00:47:06.039 --> 00:47:10.559
to attend extradition hearings, she relocated to Emmanuel with her husband.
595
00:47:12.099 --> 00:47:17.489
Leifer's husband, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Leifer, reportedly led the small
596
00:47:17.530 --> 00:47:22.699
community there. They had closed ranks around his wife, believing
597
00:47:22.880 --> 00:47:26.260
she should not have to face secular authorities in Australia
598
00:47:26.440 --> 00:47:32.019
for the allegations against her. Shana Aronson and the team
599
00:47:32.099 --> 00:47:35.260
at Jewish Community Watch had decided that the best way
600
00:47:35.300 --> 00:47:38.239
to find out if Malka Leifer was lying was to
601
00:47:38.300 --> 00:47:43.820
send private investigators after her. The investigators would be tasked
602
00:47:43.900 --> 00:47:47.460
with looking into Leifer's day-to-day activities in the hopes of
603
00:47:47.559 --> 00:47:53.260
disproving her claims of being incapacitated with mental illness. Because
604
00:47:53.340 --> 00:47:57.960
Emanuel is highly insular, Jewish Community Watch knew that sending
605
00:47:58.019 --> 00:48:01.860
in private investigators would be a slow and careful process.
606
00:48:04.150 --> 00:48:08.690
The lead investigator, Safria Sahi, decided his team would pose
607
00:48:08.750 --> 00:48:13.019
as construction workers. This would be the easiest way to
608
00:48:13.079 --> 00:48:18.369
slip into the community without attracting attention. The undercover agents
609
00:48:18.429 --> 00:48:21.849
were armed with tiny cameras installed into what looked like
610
00:48:21.929 --> 00:48:25.809
everyday items like sets of keys, water bottles and bags.
611
00:48:27.570 --> 00:48:31.219
While pretending to work on construction sites, shop at local
612
00:48:31.280 --> 00:48:34.320
stores and chat on the street, they would try to
613
00:48:34.400 --> 00:48:39.619
catch Malka Leifer out and about. On the late morning
614
00:48:39.679 --> 00:48:43.650
of Wednesday December 14, cameras caught Leifer standing on a
615
00:48:43.710 --> 00:48:47.269
street with one of her sons. She was chatting on
616
00:48:47.309 --> 00:48:52.570
the phone, completely unaware that she was being filmed. Four
617
00:48:52.610 --> 00:48:55.150
days later, Leifer was filmed as she shopped at a
618
00:48:55.190 --> 00:49:00.730
grocery store and made inquiries with the shopkeeper. Private investigators
619
00:49:00.789 --> 00:49:05.650
captured Leifer smiling, having all day long phone conversations, meeting
620
00:49:05.710 --> 00:49:13.429
with others for social engagements, She caught an hour-long bus
621
00:49:13.469 --> 00:49:16.090
trip to Tel Aviv to visit some of her children
622
00:49:16.179 --> 00:49:20.929
and grandchildren in the suburb where they lived. On weekends,
623
00:49:21.300 --> 00:49:26.579
her children travelled to Emanuel to visit her. The reality
624
00:49:26.639 --> 00:49:30.019
of Leifer's situation was nothing like the picture that had
625
00:49:30.039 --> 00:49:35.000
been painted by her lawyers. Private investigators saw no sign
626
00:49:35.019 --> 00:49:40.840
of the carer she supposedly required. Instead, they'd captured more
627
00:49:40.880 --> 00:49:44.659
than 200 hours of footage that showed Malka Leifer leading
628
00:49:44.679 --> 00:49:49.480
a normal life. This footage was handed over to Israeli
629
00:49:49.519 --> 00:49:54.469
police who commenced their own investigation into the matter. In
630
00:49:54.590 --> 00:49:59.630
February 2018, after concluding that the former school principal was
631
00:49:59.769 --> 00:50:09.840
feigning her illness, police re-arrested Malka Leifer. Almost exactly a
632
00:50:09.969 --> 00:50:14.139
decade after Darcy Ehrlich first accused Leifer of abusing her,
633
00:50:14.539 --> 00:50:19.940
the extradition hearings began again. Finally, after a total of
634
00:50:19.940 --> 00:50:24.400
74 court dates and years of delays, the Israeli court
635
00:50:24.440 --> 00:50:28.139
rejected Leifer's claim of mental illness and ruled that she
636
00:50:28.239 --> 00:50:33.739
was fit to stand trial in Australia in May 2020.
637
00:50:33.739 --> 00:50:37.389
Seven months later, the extradition order was signed. and on
638
00:50:37.469 --> 00:50:43.210
Monday January 25 2021, Malka Leifer was flown back to Melbourne.
639
00:50:44.570 --> 00:50:46.980
She would be held on remand until it was time
640
00:50:47.019 --> 00:50:53.219
for her trial. Nicole Meyer, Darcy Ehrlich and Ellie Sapper
641
00:50:53.300 --> 00:50:56.659
were overjoyed that their abuser would finally have to face
642
00:50:56.719 --> 00:51:01.059
them in court. They had always felt that in coming forward,
643
00:51:01.320 --> 00:51:05.059
they were speaking on behalf of survivors who felt unable to.
644
00:51:06.389 --> 00:51:12.650
and Malka Leifer had many other alleged victims. Before Leifer
645
00:51:12.739 --> 00:51:16.360
moved to Melbourne in 2001, she had been a teacher
646
00:51:16.420 --> 00:51:21.039
at an ultra-orthodox girls' school in Bnei Brak, Israel. At
647
00:51:21.099 --> 00:51:24.199
least one woman had reported that Leifer had abused her
648
00:51:24.320 --> 00:51:28.210
when she was a student there. Rumour had it that
649
00:51:28.289 --> 00:51:31.849
she wasn't the only one, and the school's administration had
650
00:51:31.969 --> 00:51:34.369
known they had a problem when it came to Leifer.
651
00:51:36.070 --> 00:51:39.670
It was said that was why they'd provided glowing references
652
00:51:39.769 --> 00:51:43.969
when Adas Israel School looked into hiring her. They were
653
00:51:44.050 --> 00:51:49.090
eager to get rid of the problem. During her time
654
00:51:49.150 --> 00:51:52.889
at Adas Israel School, Leifer had allegedly abused up to
655
00:51:52.889 --> 00:51:58.360
15 girls. Aside from Nicole, Darcy and Ellie, none had
656
00:51:58.480 --> 00:52:04.079
publicly come forward or filed criminal reports. And after Leifer
657
00:52:04.159 --> 00:52:10.179
fled to Israel in 2008, the abuses continued. In 2018,
658
00:52:10.179 --> 00:52:14.460
the Sydney Morning Herald published an article that looked into
659
00:52:14.480 --> 00:52:19.059
the Emanuel settlement where Leifer was living. One resident, who
660
00:52:19.099 --> 00:52:22.000
went by the name Daniel, told the Sydney Morning Herald
661
00:52:22.099 --> 00:52:26.000
that shortly after arriving in Emanuel, Leifer offered to privately
662
00:52:26.059 --> 00:52:31.239
tutor his daughter religious studies. Unaware of her history or
663
00:52:31.280 --> 00:52:36.789
the accusations against her, Daniel agreed. When his daughter reported
664
00:52:36.829 --> 00:52:40.929
that Leifer had abused her during their lessons, Daniel was furious.
665
00:52:42.789 --> 00:52:46.349
He hired a private investigator to follow Leifer and began
666
00:52:46.429 --> 00:52:52.800
observing her himself. According to Daniel, Leifer would lure disadvantaged
667
00:52:52.980 --> 00:52:56.599
children into her home by offering them free food and lessons.
668
00:52:58.010 --> 00:53:01.510
On one occasion, he witnessed Leifer grab a blonde-haired girl,
669
00:53:01.710 --> 00:53:07.099
then grope her chest and buttocks. Daniel decided to confront
670
00:53:07.199 --> 00:53:09.920
Leifer's husband about what she had done to his daughter.
671
00:53:11.159 --> 00:53:15.239
Her husband replied, quote, But we did try not to
672
00:53:15.260 --> 00:53:28.909
leave her alone with kids. The trial of Malka Leifer,
673
00:53:29.090 --> 00:53:32.449
who was now 56 years old, began in Melbourne in
674
00:53:32.570 --> 00:53:38.650
February 2023. Most of the original 74 charges were dropped,
675
00:53:38.989 --> 00:53:43.360
leaving Leifer to face 27 counts of rape and indecent assault.
676
00:53:44.880 --> 00:53:48.219
The trial lasted six weeks and it took the jury
677
00:53:48.340 --> 00:53:54.199
almost two weeks to deliberate. On Monday April 3, they
678
00:53:54.260 --> 00:53:59.469
were ready to deliver their verdict. Because there were so
679
00:53:59.530 --> 00:54:05.219
many charges, the verdict for each had to be announced individually. Nicole,
680
00:54:05.340 --> 00:54:08.820
Darcy and Ellie were in the courtroom holding each other's hands.
681
00:54:10.340 --> 00:54:14.300
The first five charges related to the abuse of Nicole Meyer.
682
00:54:14.320 --> 00:54:19.349
Each count was read aloud and then the verdict followed.
683
00:54:20.889 --> 00:54:28.489
All five were found not guilty. Nicole's heart dropped. She
684
00:54:28.570 --> 00:54:31.610
felt like falling to the ground, but she managed to
685
00:54:31.659 --> 00:54:37.420
stay upright, squeezing her sister's hands even harder. As the
686
00:54:37.480 --> 00:54:40.760
jury moved on to the charges relating to Darcy, the
687
00:54:40.800 --> 00:54:46.829
verdict of not guilty was repeated four more times. But then,
688
00:54:47.230 --> 00:54:52.989
as they continued with the remaining charges, the answer changed. Guilty.
689
00:54:53.869 --> 00:54:54.150
Guilty.
690
00:54:54.170 --> 00:54:54.349
Guilty.
691
00:54:55.230 --> 00:54:55.630
Guilty.
692
00:54:58.010 --> 00:55:01.989
Malka Leifer was found guilty on 18 counts of rape,
693
00:55:02.250 --> 00:55:06.889
indecent assault and sexual penetration of a child aged 16
694
00:55:06.889 --> 00:55:11.750
or 17. All of these charges related to crimes against
695
00:55:11.929 --> 00:55:16.820
Dossi Ehrlich and Ellie Sapper between 2003 and 2007. The
696
00:55:18.780 --> 00:55:22.400
three sisters felt a rush of relief, which for Nicole
697
00:55:22.579 --> 00:55:27.190
was tinged with pain. She turned around to stare at
698
00:55:27.289 --> 00:55:30.289
Malka Leifer, who was seated alone in the back of
699
00:55:30.349 --> 00:55:35.280
the courtroom. As Nicole glared at Leifer, she tried to
700
00:55:35.320 --> 00:55:38.760
communicate a silent message that she didn't care what the
701
00:55:38.800 --> 00:55:42.960
jury had decided. She knew what Leifer had done and
702
00:55:43.039 --> 00:55:48.039
wanted to show her that she wasn't broken. Leifer refused
703
00:55:48.219 --> 00:55:53.489
to meet Nicole's eyes. Nicole knew this meant her message
704
00:55:53.829 --> 00:56:02.429
had been received. Darcy Ehrlich and Ellie Sapper read from
705
00:56:02.510 --> 00:56:08.559
victim impact statements during Malka Leifer's sentencing hearing. Darcy described
706
00:56:08.599 --> 00:56:11.519
how Leifer had whispered, I love you like a mother,
707
00:56:11.980 --> 00:56:15.360
as she reached under Darcy's clothes for the very first time.
708
00:56:17.429 --> 00:56:20.829
Darcy said that this betrayal from the first person to
709
00:56:20.949 --> 00:56:24.610
ever show her a maternal kind of love had damaged
710
00:56:24.670 --> 00:56:29.650
her ability to trust forever. Life as abuse had caused
711
00:56:29.809 --> 00:56:33.840
Darcy to suffer migraines, chronic illness and struggles with her
712
00:56:33.880 --> 00:56:39.880
mental health that often left her feeling suicidal. Quote, Her
713
00:56:39.960 --> 00:56:43.880
abuse still lives within my body. In some ways her
714
00:56:43.960 --> 00:56:48.420
trauma will always live within my body. The abuse has
715
00:56:48.500 --> 00:56:52.530
forced me numerous times to choose between life and death.
716
00:56:54.849 --> 00:56:59.170
Ellie Sapper described the flashbacks, nightmares and panic attacks she
717
00:56:59.250 --> 00:57:04.179
still experienced on a daily basis. She also revealed that
718
00:57:04.400 --> 00:57:09.039
up until recently, she had been pregnant. Throughout the trial,
719
00:57:09.300 --> 00:57:12.519
Ellie's unborn daughter had been a light that gave her courage.
720
00:57:13.699 --> 00:57:18.210
But six days before Leifer's verdict was delivered, her baby's
721
00:57:18.250 --> 00:57:24.929
heart stopped beating. Ellie told the court, quote, I will
722
00:57:24.989 --> 00:57:28.889
never know if the stress, the worry, the anxiety, or
723
00:57:28.929 --> 00:57:31.679
the years of trauma played any part in the loss
724
00:57:31.719 --> 00:57:36.820
of my little girl. Both Ellie and Darcy said that
725
00:57:36.940 --> 00:57:40.840
despite the damage Leifer had done, she hadn't managed to
726
00:57:40.880 --> 00:57:49.090
destroy them. Addressing Leifer directly, Darcy stated, Malka Leifer, you
727
00:57:49.150 --> 00:57:52.929
shattered my trust and stole my body and altered my
728
00:57:52.989 --> 00:57:58.380
life's course. but you could not break my spirit. Today
729
00:57:58.400 --> 00:58:05.139
I stand as a survivor. Your darkness does not define me. Instead,
730
00:58:05.590 --> 00:58:08.849
I choose to focus on the light within myself, the
731
00:58:08.909 --> 00:58:12.630
love that surrounds me, and the power of my own voice.
732
00:58:13.929 --> 00:58:20.900
I will continue to heal and grow and thrive. Malka
733
00:58:20.940 --> 00:58:25.039
Leifer's barrister argued that his client should receive a credit
734
00:58:25.139 --> 00:58:29.659
for being found not guilty of abusing Nicole Meyer. He
735
00:58:29.719 --> 00:58:33.059
also said that her period of home detention years earlier
736
00:58:33.139 --> 00:58:38.559
in Israel should count towards a reduced sentence. But the
737
00:58:38.599 --> 00:58:42.840
prosecution reminded the court that Israeli authorities found Leifer had
738
00:58:42.920 --> 00:58:47.840
feigned mental illness for four years to avoid justice. That
739
00:58:47.920 --> 00:58:51.599
only came to an end after private investigators proved she
740
00:58:51.639 --> 00:58:58.449
was lying, not because Malka Leifer had suddenly demonstrated remorse. Therefore,
741
00:58:58.630 --> 00:59:01.829
the home detention in Israel should not factor into her
742
00:59:01.889 --> 00:59:08.969
sentence at all. In August 2023, the judge sentenced Malka
743
00:59:09.030 --> 00:59:11.960
Leifer to 15 years. 15 years in custody, with a
744
00:59:12.000 --> 00:59:16.719
non-parole period of 11 years and 6 months. In the
745
00:59:16.800 --> 00:59:20.489
two years since her incarceration, there have already been multiple
746
00:59:20.550 --> 00:59:24.550
reports of Leifer committing further offences against other inmates and
747
00:59:26.679 --> 00:59:31.099
In April 2025, news broke that Malka Leifer had formed
748
00:59:31.159 --> 00:59:34.599
a relationship with Samantha as a party, a con artist
749
00:59:34.679 --> 00:59:39.780
whose case was covered in episode 323 of Casefile. There
750
00:59:39.820 --> 00:59:44.139
were reports that 58-year-old Leifer was seen exchanging notes with
751
00:59:44.159 --> 00:59:48.780
36-year-old Samantha, and that Leifer had once kissed Samantha on
752
00:59:48.820 --> 00:59:56.630
the lips. Nicole Meyer, Darcy Ehrlich and Ellie Sapper told news.com.au
753
00:59:56.929 --> 01:00:01.679
that this development was extremely disturbing, given Samantha Azapati's history
754
01:00:01.719 --> 01:00:04.519
of dressing up as a schoolgirl and her mental health
755
01:00:04.559 --> 01:00:10.139
issues relating to sexual abuse. Several months later, in July 2025,
756
01:00:10.119 --> 01:00:15.340
Leifer was accused of sexually assaulting an Aboriginal inmate aged
757
01:00:15.400 --> 01:00:19.960
in her 20s. A source told news outlets that the
758
01:00:20.019 --> 01:00:23.460
assault was captured on CCTV and took place in the
759
01:00:23.519 --> 01:00:26.539
Murray Unit, a section of the prison where inmates are
760
01:00:26.599 --> 01:00:32.210
segregated for their own protection. Following this incident, Leifer was
761
01:00:32.269 --> 01:00:37.090
moved to solitary confinement. She cannot mix with other inmates
762
01:00:37.289 --> 01:00:39.510
and is confined to her cell for at least 23
763
01:00:39.510 --> 01:00:44.360
hours a day. Her only daily break is to be
764
01:00:44.420 --> 01:00:47.639
permitted a 20-minute visit to an airing yard or to
765
01:00:47.699 --> 01:00:52.960
a lounge room with a broken television. In the wake
766
01:00:53.019 --> 01:00:59.150
of these incidents, Nicole Meyer told news.com.au, I just hope
767
01:00:59.230 --> 01:01:02.130
the community or members of her family have a deep
768
01:01:02.170 --> 01:01:06.869
hard think about reading these stories and maybe, just maybe,
769
01:01:07.409 --> 01:01:11.369
start to believe that Malka Leifard did actually abuse us.
770
01:01:15.929 --> 01:01:19.699
In addition to wanting Malka Leifer held accountable, Nicole Meyer,
771
01:01:19.880 --> 01:01:23.599
Darcy Ehrlich and Ellie Sapper had wanted their former school
772
01:01:23.699 --> 01:01:28.099
to answer for its lack of duty of care. Nicole
773
01:01:28.139 --> 01:01:31.800
and Ellie reached out-of-court settlements with the Das Israel School,
774
01:01:32.300 --> 01:01:36.260
but when negotiations failed with Darcy, she sued them for
775
01:01:36.340 --> 01:01:43.070
negligence in 2015. This civil suit led to a disturbing revelation.
776
01:01:45.599 --> 01:01:50.329
On Wednesday March 5 2008, a group of individuals associated
777
01:01:50.389 --> 01:01:54.389
with the Adas Israel School, including two board members, had
778
01:01:54.449 --> 01:01:58.610
attended an urgent meeting to discuss the emerging allegations against
779
01:01:58.630 --> 01:02:03.690
Amalka Leifer. The attendees called Leifer at her home to
780
01:02:03.769 --> 01:02:08.760
address the abuse claims, which she denied. The story the
781
01:02:08.840 --> 01:02:13.380
school had always told was that Leifer was subsequently stood down.
782
01:02:15.489 --> 01:02:21.480
In reality, they told her to leave the country. Between
783
01:02:21.480 --> 01:02:24.960
9 and 10 o'clock that night, the wife of one
784
01:02:24.980 --> 01:02:28.119
of the school board members called a local travel agent.
785
01:02:29.260 --> 01:02:32.690
She said someone needed to travel to Israel urgently and
786
01:02:32.829 --> 01:02:38.750
requested the next possible flight. Using school funds, she paid
787
01:02:38.849 --> 01:02:41.820
for Malka Leifer and four of her children to fly
788
01:02:41.889 --> 01:02:47.170
out of Melbourne at 1.20am. No one from the school
789
01:02:47.269 --> 01:02:52.889
who knew about the allegations notified the police. More than
790
01:02:53.050 --> 01:02:56.570
eight years later, Malka Leifer was living in the Israeli
791
01:02:56.650 --> 01:03:02.480
settlement of Immanuel and was still abusing girls. Daniel, the
792
01:03:02.519 --> 01:03:06.059
father of one of these girls, began secretly recording Leifer
793
01:03:06.199 --> 01:03:10.869
and her husband after she kept harassing his daughter. He
794
01:03:10.989 --> 01:03:14.630
also looked into Leifer's past and discovered she was on
795
01:03:14.650 --> 01:03:19.909
the run from sexual abuse allegations in Australia. During a
796
01:03:19.969 --> 01:03:25.449
conversation with Leifer's husband, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Leifer, the rabbi
797
01:03:25.510 --> 01:03:28.989
admitted that they and their children were paid to leave
798
01:03:29.050 --> 01:03:33.610
Australia just hours after Leifer was confronted about the allegations.
799
01:03:35.710 --> 01:03:40.599
Leifer hadn't made her own decision to flee Australia. Instead,
800
01:03:40.920 --> 01:03:44.500
the school that employed her had decided to help her escape,
801
01:03:44.900 --> 01:03:48.039
rather than refer her to law enforcement for her crimes
802
01:03:48.099 --> 01:03:53.619
against children. Moreover, the suit also found that a teacher
803
01:03:53.659 --> 01:03:56.829
at the school had been told about Leifer, quote, crossing
804
01:03:56.869 --> 01:04:01.369
boundaries with girls at least six months before Darcy raised
805
01:04:01.389 --> 01:04:06.469
the alarm. The judge who was presiding over the civil
806
01:04:06.530 --> 01:04:10.389
suit lashed out at the school board for these actions, stating,
807
01:04:11.690 --> 01:04:16.840
the conduct amounts to disgraceful behaviour demonstrating a complete disregard
808
01:04:16.909 --> 01:04:21.400
for life as victims. It demonstrates a disdain for due
809
01:04:21.500 --> 01:04:27.860
process of criminal investigation in this state. The judge found
810
01:04:28.039 --> 01:04:31.030
that at the time of Darcy's abuse, the school had
811
01:04:31.159 --> 01:04:35.070
no processes or procedures in place to handle potential sexual
812
01:04:35.110 --> 01:04:39.789
misconduct by a staff member against students. At least two
813
01:04:39.909 --> 01:04:44.050
teachers had noticed or been told about Leifer's inappropriate behaviour
814
01:04:44.090 --> 01:04:47.110
with students, but said they had no one they could
815
01:04:47.170 --> 01:04:51.760
report it to because, quote, Mrs Leifer was the principal.
816
01:04:53.969 --> 01:04:58.159
The judge awarded Darcy more than 1.1 million Australian dollars
817
01:04:58.239 --> 01:05:02.800
in damages to be paid by the school. Leifer herself
818
01:05:03.019 --> 01:05:11.909
was ordered to pay Darcy an additional $ 150, 000. The revelation
819
01:05:11.989 --> 01:05:16.070
that the school board had facilitated and arranged Leifer's escape
820
01:05:16.389 --> 01:05:21.840
upset and angered Leifer's victims and the broader community. Some
821
01:05:21.900 --> 01:05:25.440
members of the public demanded that those responsible face criminal
822
01:05:25.500 --> 01:05:30.500
charges for their actions. Victoria Police looked into the matter
823
01:05:30.719 --> 01:05:36.400
but closed their investigation in 2018, explaining there was, quote,
824
01:05:37.119 --> 01:05:41.360
insufficient evidence to proceed with any charges at this time.
825
01:05:43.460 --> 01:05:47.969
Advocates for sexual abuse survivors openly voiced their disappointment in
826
01:05:48.010 --> 01:05:53.590
this decision. In June 2023, the police announced that they
827
01:05:53.630 --> 01:05:56.670
would reopen the probe now that the more pressing criminal
828
01:05:56.710 --> 01:06:01.960
trial against Malka Leifer was complete. Darcy Ehrlich told the
829
01:06:02.099 --> 01:06:07.719
Age newspaper that she welcomed the decision, stating, The actions
830
01:06:07.780 --> 01:06:11.420
of the board in facilitating Malka Leifer's escape not only
831
01:06:11.480 --> 01:06:15.949
betrayed the pursuit of justice and caused significant delays, it
832
01:06:15.989 --> 01:06:19.820
also perpetuated the anguish we were forced to endure. and
833
01:06:19.900 --> 01:06:24.760
hindered our path to healing. As of the release of
834
01:06:24.840 --> 01:06:31.789
this episode of Casefile, that investigation is ongoing. The actions
835
01:06:31.849 --> 01:06:34.210
of the school board have been compared to the way
836
01:06:34.269 --> 01:06:37.949
the Catholic Church has been found to transfer pedophile priests
837
01:06:38.090 --> 01:06:43.050
to new parishes when allegations were made against them. Experts
838
01:06:43.090 --> 01:06:46.789
have said that the insular nature of some religious institutions
839
01:06:46.929 --> 01:06:51.210
has led them to prioritise their own reputations over reporting
840
01:06:51.269 --> 01:06:56.329
crimes to law enforcement. In the case of Malka Leifer,
841
01:06:56.630 --> 01:07:00.369
some people have pointed to a Jewish dictate known as Masira.
842
01:07:01.449 --> 01:07:04.469
This is a law against informing on a fellow Jew
843
01:07:04.659 --> 01:07:09.599
to secular authorities. It was most likely initiated when Jews
844
01:07:09.659 --> 01:07:14.110
were living under Roman or Persian law. As the Jewish
845
01:07:14.170 --> 01:07:18.010
people continued to be persecuted by other groups through the centuries,
846
01:07:18.409 --> 01:07:24.460
Masira remained significant. Masira has been cited in other cases
847
01:07:24.539 --> 01:07:30.159
of child sexual abuse within Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox institutions in Australia.
848
01:07:34.199 --> 01:07:37.780
Masira likely also played a role in how Malka Leifer's
849
01:07:37.840 --> 01:07:42.849
case was handled by some officials in Israel. After Leifer
850
01:07:42.889 --> 01:07:48.380
was re-arrested in 2018, a prominent ultra-orthodox rabbi burst into
851
01:07:48.420 --> 01:07:52.980
the courtroom during one of her hearings. He demanded Leifer
852
01:07:53.000 --> 01:07:56.739
be released into his care for home detention, arguing that
853
01:07:56.760 --> 01:07:59.699
it was a humiliation for her to be kept in custody.
854
01:08:01.070 --> 01:08:05.010
The judge agreed, until an enormous public backlash led to
855
01:08:05.030 --> 01:08:11.860
the rabbi withdrawing his support. In February 2019, it was
856
01:08:11.960 --> 01:08:16.729
revealed that Israel's then Deputy Health Minister, Yaakov Litzman, was
857
01:08:16.810 --> 01:08:22.590
suspected of having worked to protect Leifer. Like Leifer, Litzman
858
01:08:22.689 --> 01:08:28.539
follows an ultra-Orthodox form of Judaism. Police were investigating him
859
01:08:28.699 --> 01:08:35.609
on suspicion of witness tampering in the case. In April 2015,
860
01:08:35.609 --> 01:08:39.890
The court psychiatrist tasked with examining Leifer found no signs
861
01:08:39.949 --> 01:08:43.470
of mental illness and said she was fit to stand trial.
862
01:08:44.949 --> 01:08:48.390
By the start of 2016, he went back on this,
863
01:08:48.869 --> 01:08:53.670
writing in a new report, The patient is totally non-functional,
864
01:08:53.890 --> 01:08:56.609
confined to her bed, and is on the verge of
865
01:08:56.670 --> 01:09:01.100
having a power of attorney appointed for her. He hadn't
866
01:09:01.220 --> 01:09:05.329
seen this for himself, but it was what Leifer's sister-in-law
867
01:09:05.409 --> 01:09:09.369
had told him. And it was this report that led
868
01:09:09.430 --> 01:09:16.579
to Leifer's extradition hearings ceasing altogether. When Malka Leifer was
869
01:09:16.680 --> 01:09:20.520
later found to have feigned her mental illness, the psychiatrist
870
01:09:20.579 --> 01:09:25.310
approved a report saying she was fit for trial. He
871
01:09:25.409 --> 01:09:29.449
later reneged on this yet again when Leifer's defence attorneys
872
01:09:29.550 --> 01:09:35.359
questioned him on the stand while appealing her extradition. According
873
01:09:35.420 --> 01:09:39.720
to Israeli police, this was due to Deputy Health Minister
874
01:09:39.800 --> 01:09:44.619
Litzman placing pressure on him. It was reported that police
875
01:09:44.640 --> 01:09:48.609
had phone messages and recordings of Litzman requesting that officials
876
01:09:48.689 --> 01:09:52.850
in Israel's health ministry act to ensure Leifer wasn't extradited
877
01:09:52.909 --> 01:09:58.430
to Australia. Litzman allegedly threatened to fire people if Leifer
878
01:09:58.510 --> 01:10:05.300
didn't receive the desired psychiatric reports. The police recommended Litzman
879
01:10:05.359 --> 01:10:11.189
be prosecuted for his actions. In January 2022, he signed
880
01:10:11.229 --> 01:10:14.710
a plea deal acknowledging that he had criminally assisted Malka
881
01:10:14.750 --> 01:10:19.710
Leifer in evading extradition to Australia. As part of the deal,
882
01:10:20.130 --> 01:10:27.920
he had to pay a fine and retire. Many in
883
01:10:27.979 --> 01:10:34.260
Melbourne's Adas community remain silent regarding Malka Leifer's crimes. Darcy
884
01:10:34.319 --> 01:10:38.310
Ehrlich and Ellie Sapper have both left the congregation. but
885
01:10:38.350 --> 01:10:43.609
Nicole Meyer remains on its fringes. She finds this silence
886
01:10:43.829 --> 01:10:48.250
one of the hardest things to grapple with. Only recently,
887
01:10:48.449 --> 01:10:51.010
she spoke with a woman who said she had known
888
01:10:51.090 --> 01:10:54.750
about the abuse. She had actually once walked in on
889
01:10:54.810 --> 01:10:59.609
Leifer abusing Nicole. But she begged Nicole not to tell
890
01:10:59.670 --> 01:11:04.569
anyone what she'd said. Hearing things like this has been
891
01:11:04.630 --> 01:11:08.229
particularly difficult. when Nicole is the only one of the
892
01:11:08.270 --> 01:11:14.020
three sisters that Leifer wasn't convicted of abusing. Nicole doesn't
893
01:11:14.060 --> 01:11:17.680
know why Leifer was acquitted of her charges, but suspects
894
01:11:17.760 --> 01:11:20.979
it was due to the limited information presented to the jury.
895
01:11:22.119 --> 01:11:25.460
Evidence could only be given about two specific time periods
896
01:11:25.560 --> 01:11:29.399
that Leifer was charged for. They weren't told about the
897
01:11:29.470 --> 01:11:33.409
broader context, including the earlier years of grooming and abuse.
898
01:11:35.829 --> 01:11:39.850
Like her sisters, Nicole wrote a lengthy victim impact statement,
899
01:11:40.210 --> 01:11:43.649
but because Leifer was acquitted of her charges, she couldn't
900
01:11:43.770 --> 01:11:47.630
read it in court. Instead, she shared it with the
901
01:11:47.710 --> 01:11:52.760
media outside the courthouse. She described the scars she was
902
01:11:52.819 --> 01:11:56.939
left with, both visible and invisible, and how the abuse
903
01:11:57.000 --> 01:12:02.500
has had ongoing ramifications for Nicole's wellbeing. It has impacted
904
01:12:02.539 --> 01:12:06.649
her relationships with other people, including those closest to her.
905
01:12:08.289 --> 01:12:12.109
To this day, Nicole suffers from sleep disorders and finds
906
01:12:12.189 --> 01:12:18.630
particular places triggering. In the years after Leifer left Australia,
907
01:12:18.949 --> 01:12:22.930
Nicole was harmed by another authority figure she placed trust in.
908
01:12:24.149 --> 01:12:26.949
She blames the abuse she suffered as a teenager for
909
01:12:26.989 --> 01:12:32.550
making her vulnerable to another predator. Quote, My radar was
910
01:12:32.649 --> 01:12:35.670
so compromised that I did not see the red flags
911
01:12:35.789 --> 01:12:40.220
until I was harmed again. Mrs Leifer took away the
912
01:12:40.260 --> 01:12:42.420
part of me that would have known how to trust
913
01:12:42.520 --> 01:12:46.279
my own instinct and feel I don't deserve to get hurt,
914
01:12:47.039 --> 01:12:50.439
or know that care from some people is a very
915
01:12:50.590 --> 01:12:59.590
dangerous thing. Not only was Leifer's verdict personally devastating for Nicole,
916
01:12:59.970 --> 01:13:02.029
but it hurt as the only one of the three
917
01:13:02.109 --> 01:13:07.069
sisters who is still ultra-Orthodox. While all three women have
918
01:13:07.109 --> 01:13:12.020
become advocates for child sexual abuse survivors, Nicole particularly wanted
919
01:13:12.060 --> 01:13:15.579
to be an example for survivors in the ultra-Orthodox community.
920
01:13:16.899 --> 01:13:19.920
She hoped to demonstrate it was possible to remain in
921
01:13:19.960 --> 01:13:25.350
the faith while also seeking justice. The not guilty verdict
922
01:13:25.390 --> 01:13:28.789
has made her feel as though other ultra-Orthodox victims might
923
01:13:28.829 --> 01:13:34.460
remain reluctant to come forward. But it's clear that some
924
01:13:34.539 --> 01:13:39.680
have found strength in the sisters' fight. In May 2023,
925
01:13:39.680 --> 01:13:43.600
another victim of Malka Leifers from Adas Israel School reached
926
01:13:43.680 --> 01:13:48.430
an out-of-court settlement with the school. And survivors from all
927
01:13:48.510 --> 01:13:51.250
over the world have reached out to Nicole, Darcy and
928
01:13:51.350 --> 01:13:57.930
Ellie via social media. In January 2024, Dusty Ehrlich published
929
01:13:57.989 --> 01:14:03.020
a memoir titled In Bad Faith. Dusty's book tells her
930
01:14:03.079 --> 01:14:06.880
story in her own words and received widespread acclaim upon
931
01:14:06.920 --> 01:14:12.600
its publication. Nicole Meyer began studying law as a way
932
01:14:12.649 --> 01:14:15.989
to help more victim survivors in a system that still
933
01:14:16.090 --> 01:14:20.810
has much room for improvement. She also performs advocacy work
934
01:14:20.909 --> 01:14:24.189
both online and in person. with a special focus on
935
01:14:24.229 --> 01:14:27.810
assisting survivors who have been harmed within a religious community.
936
01:14:29.229 --> 01:14:32.770
This work has seen her support survivors from various religious
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01:14:32.850 --> 01:14:37.470
faiths and from countries all over the world. Nicole is
938
01:14:37.510 --> 01:14:41.670
affiliated with National Survivors Day, an annual day of recognition
939
01:14:41.710 --> 01:14:45.569
for survivors of sexual abuse and their supporters, and the
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01:14:45.609 --> 01:14:51.550
National Survivors Foundation. In an effort to speak out further
941
01:14:51.670 --> 01:14:55.050
for other survivors, the sisters agreed to share their journey
942
01:14:55.069 --> 01:15:00.430
for justice with filmmakers Adam Kamian and Ivan O'Manney. Over
943
01:15:00.489 --> 01:15:03.770
the course of five years, the filmmakers interviewed the trio
944
01:15:03.939 --> 01:15:06.739
and followed their case in real time as they fought
945
01:15:06.779 --> 01:15:12.920
for Leifer's return to Australia. Their documentary, titled Revealed, Surviving
946
01:15:13.000 --> 01:15:17.060
Melka Leifer, premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in
947
01:15:17.239 --> 01:15:23.189
August 2025. At the time of this episode's release, Australian
948
01:15:23.229 --> 01:15:26.989
listeners can watch the documentary on the streaming platform Stan.
949
01:15:29.609 --> 01:15:33.640
In November 2017, when the three sisters made their journey
950
01:15:33.680 --> 01:15:37.319
to Israel to campaign for life as extradition, they stopped
951
01:15:37.359 --> 01:15:41.260
at a restaurant in Jerusalem. While they were sitting at
952
01:15:41.279 --> 01:15:45.439
their table, they were approached by an ultra-orthodox teenage girl.
953
01:15:46.899 --> 01:15:49.279
She had seen the sisters on the news and heard
954
01:15:49.319 --> 01:15:54.239
about their campaign. In an interview with The Age, Darcy
955
01:15:54.310 --> 01:15:59.989
explained why the girl had approached them. Quote, She shared
956
01:16:00.050 --> 01:16:04.789
a similar story to ours, an insular school, vulnerable students,
957
01:16:05.189 --> 01:16:09.670
a female principal abusing her power. As soon as she
958
01:16:09.770 --> 01:16:13.810
said it, you could see the fear. She wouldn't tell
959
01:16:13.869 --> 01:16:18.229
us her name or what school she went to But
960
01:16:18.489 --> 01:16:23.090
seeing us, our story, and the campaign on TV had
961
01:16:23.170 --> 01:16:26.939
given her the courage and understanding to stop what was
962
01:16:26.979 --> 01:16:58.119
happening to her. Thank you very much.