Israel has ousted an ultra-rectangular vice president accused of committing dozens of child sexual offenses against its Australian students, ending a six-year legal battle.
Malka Leifer was put on an early morning flight from Tel Aviv to Australia, Israeli media reported on Monday, just hours before Ben Gurion airport was closed due to coronavirus restrictions.
“We confirm the extermination,” the Israeli justice ministry said, without giving further details. Photos released by Israeli media showed that Ms Leifer was taken to the plane in handcuffs. .
Ms Leifer is facing 74 allegations of sexual abuse she committed while working as a teacher and headteacher at an ultra-rectangular Jewish school in Melbourne.
She was the first accused in 2008 but left Australia with her family for Israel, where she lived in the West Bank town of Emmanuel.
Israel tried to detain her in 2014 after her arrest, and again in 2016, but this failed because Ms Leifer was placed in a mental health facility and experts believed that he was not fit to be tried.
Private investigators then filmed Ms Leifer filming the purchase and deposit of a bank check, raising suspicions that she was fit to go to court.
In response Israel launched another investigation that led to her arrest in February 2018.
The Israeli Supreme Court eventually rejected her attorneys’ final appeal against her removal.
“More than six years have elapsed since an application was filed in the Jerusalem district court to send the applicant to Australia,” he said, adding that there were no proceedings pending. could prevent it.
A public campaign by three accused, Dassi Erlich, Elly Sapper and Nicole Meyer, is said to have played a key role in sending Ms Leifer back to Australia to face justice.
The Australian Zionist Alliance, as well as Australian politicians and activists, have criticized the long delay in the enlargement process. “That Leifer was allowed to escape justice for so long a great loss,” said Jeremy Leibler, president of the Alliance.
“While it is a relief that the Israeli justice system has finally been, the time and process that led to these delays is completely inappropriate. “
Nick Kaufman, Ms Leifer’s lawyer, complained during the enlargement hearings that the Australian and Israeli media had turned his client into a “monster”.