“Malka Leifer is guilty.”
For more than a decade, three Melbourne sisters fought to hear those words.
On Monday, they did.
But the results were bittersweet for Nicole Meyer, Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper, who accused their former ultra-Orthodox Jewish school principal of sexually abusing them as students and students teachers at the Adass Israel School between 2003 and 2007.
Leifer, a 56-year-old mother of eight, was found guilty of 18 charges relating to the abuse of Ms Erlich and Ms Sapper.
She was acquitted of nine charges – including all five brought by prosecutors over the alleged abuse of Ms Meyer.
Jurors deliberated for 32 hours over nine days before handing down their verdicts on Monday afternoon.
“Yes it’s bittersweet, but she is guilty,” Ms Meyer said outside court, holding hands with her sisters.
“I believe in myself. My sisters believe in me.”
They were in court for the verdicts.
“It was frightening but at the same time we were able to stand strong and look at each other and look at her, and say ‘she abused us’,” Ms Sapper said.
Ms Meyer described it as empowering.
“I turned around and looked at her … if she doesn’t want to look at me, so be it.”
Leifer sat without reacting, her gaze firmly on the jury as the six men and six women handed down their unanimous verdicts through the foreman.
She had been appointed menaheles, or principal, of the girls’ school after arriving in Melbourne in 2001 but was stood down when allegations were raised in 2008.
She fled to Israel days later and when charged in 2014 began a years-long battle against extradition.
The sisters told jurors they were abused by Leifer on school camps, during private lessons at the school and at Leifer’s home.
Ms Erlich told jurors Leifer was a woman revered as much as a rabbi in their deeply religious community.
“I had this person that everybody looked up to paying attention to me and I was desperate for that support,” she said.
Outside court she said the abuse had held the sisters hostage for years. She started the Bring Leifer Back campaign, they travelled to Israel for extradition hearings and met prime ministers to fight for Leifer’s return to Australia.
“To get to this moment is absolutely overwhelming … it was so unbelievable that we’d get to this time and we have – she is guilty,” Ms Erlich said.
Now they are free.
“It’s time to start looking forward instead of looking back. This is the beginning of our future now,” Ms Sapper said.
“It’s time to start our lives. This is the day that we put this to the back of us.”
In a statement, Adass Israel School principal and chief executive Aaron Strasser apologised to the sisters.
“We are sorry for the distress they have suffered and the impact of that abuse on their lives and families,” he said.
“We commend the survivors’ bravery in coming forward.”
Ms Meyer and Ms Sapper received confidential payouts from the school. Ms Erlich was denied a payout but was awarded damages by the Supreme Court.
Leifer’s barrister Ian Hill KC had “nothing to say at this time” when leaving court on Monday.
Leifer is due back in court on April 26. She will face a pre-sentence hearing at a later date.
GUILTY
6 x indecent assault
3 x sexual penetration of a child aged 16 or 17
3 x indecent act with a child aged 16 or 17
5 x rape
1 x rape by compelled sexual penetration
NOT GUILTY
4 x indecent assault
5 x rape.
By Karen Sweeney in Melbourne
