Case 334: Nicole Meyer, Dassi Erlich & Elly Sapper

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In the spring of 2000, the Adas Israel School in the Melbourne suburb of Elstonwick needed to hire a new senior school teacher.

Finding the right person wouldn't be an easy task.

The All Girls School catered to a small ultra-Orthodox Jewish community known as the Adass Israel Congregation that was based in a small pocket of Melbourne's inner southeast.

Students who attended the school adhered to a strict religious upbringing and were sheltered from broader society.

The community was so insular that they had their own shops, their own medical service and their own rules for raising children.

Children were not allowed to watch television, listen to the radio or access the internet.

Only certain reading materials were permitted.

Outside of a family setting, girls were not permitted to mix with boys and stories that featured girls and boys being friends were forbidden.

Girls were primarily expected to become wives and mothers, and much of their education centered around this.

Unlike most other schools in the state, Adas Israel did not adhere to a Victorian Certificate of Education curriculum.

Its final two years primarily consisted of a program that saw students trained to become teachers within the community.

For many years, an elderly, highly respected female teacher had been responsible for the program.

When she passed away, her position had to be filled.

The school board began looking for suitable recruits overseas in Israel, considering teachers from ultra-Orthodox communities over there.

One school board member had heard about a particular teacher who sounded promising, a charismatic 33-year-old with glowing references.

Her name was Malka Leifer.

Within a matter of months, Malka Leifer relocated to Australia to be head of Jewish studies at Adas Israel and to teach the senior school program.

For the students, seeing a new face in their small, tight-knit community was a big deal.

And Mrs.

Leifer was nothing like the teachers they were used to.

Most other teachers at the school were aloof and reserved.

But Mrs.

Leifer was warm, vivacious and charming, with a good sense of humour.

From the moment she arrived, she engaged with students and took the time to chat with them one-on-one.

The overall consensus amongst the girls at Adas Israel School was that Malka Lifa was a breath of fresh air.

Born in 1985, Nicole Sappa had attended Adas Israel school since her very first year of primary school.

The third of seven siblings, Nicole's home was devoid of parental love.

While her father was mostly absent when it came to parenting, Nicole's mother was emotionally and physically abusive.

She played her children off against one another by favoring some and excluding others.

These dynamics shifted from week to week so that Nicole and her siblings never knew when they would be cast in the role of the bad child.

When their mother was angry, she would hit, kick and beat them.

Punishments for perceived wrongdoings included missing out on meals, being shut out of the house, or locked in a small, dark cupboard under the stairs.

Nicole's mother was also incredibly controlling.

If the children were even 10 minutes late home from school, she would fly into a rage.

Sometimes she would pull Nicole out of school for a day and demand she complete domestic chores around the house instead.

Nicole and her siblings kept this abuse a secret.

They already felt like outsiders within their community.

Unlike most other members of the Adas congregation, the Sapper family did not have relatives who had been murdered in or survived the Holocaust.

Nor were they from an Eastern European background.

Instead, Nicole's parents had immigrated to Australia from the Middle East.

This different background led to Nicole's mother constantly telling her children that all they had was their good name.

If they wanted decent marriage prospects and bright futures, then they had to behave impeccably.

And if anyone in the community discovered the truth about their home life, it would lower their standing even further.

School was Nicole's one escape.

She was an intelligent child who loved studying so much that she would complete her homework quickly than ask for more.

When Malka Leifer arrived to teach at the school in 2001, she she began working closely with the students who were in their final years.

This meant Nicole, who was 16 years old and in year 10, became acquainted with her quickly.

Like other students, Nicole was struck by Mrs.

Leifer's warmth and outgoing personality.

The young teacher took a real interest in her students.

It wasn't unusual for her to call individual girls out of class and into her office for a chat so she could get to know them better.

Mrs.

Leifer's kind and friendly demeanor was unlike anything Nicole had experienced before.

She felt safe talking to her.

Over time, Nicole began to open up to Mrs.

Leifer more and more.

Eventually, she told her about her struggles at home.

It was the first time she had confided in anyone about the abuse.

To Nicole's relief, Mrs.

Leifer provided a supportive and sympathetic ear.

During her first year at Adas Israel School, Mrs.

Leifer's standing in the community grew.

As well as holding her own prestigious position at the congregation's all-girls school, Mrs.

Leifer's husband was a rabbi.

Wives of rabbis were given the title of Rabbitson, which was an esteemed role to hold within Orthodox Judaism.

Other members of the congregation looked up to Mrs.

Leifer and considered it an honor to be close with her.

If she needed assistance, they were eager to offer it.

She couldn't drive, so people went out of their way to give her lifts.

At the end of 2002, there was a restructure at Adas Israel School and Mrs.

Leifer received a promotion.

She was made principal, putting her in charge of both the primary and secondary schools.

By the beginning of 2003, Nicole Sapper was in year 12.

Her sister Dussie was two years her junior and starting year 10.

Just like Nicole, Dussie was very unhappy at home.

Her mother's abuse and controlling behavior was an awful secret that weighed heavily on her.

One day, Dussie was approached by Mrs.

Leifer, who asked to speak with her.

To Dussie's surprise, Mrs.

Leifer explained that she knew all about what Dussie was going through.

She also offered to help her.

Dussie knew that her elder sister Nicole was close with Mrs.

Leifer.

The relationship appeared to be a positive one.

Mrs.

Leifer was supportive of Nicole and would often favor her by taking her out of class for special projects or activities.

Now, Mrs.

Leifer began showing the same care for Darcy.

The two would meet one-on-one in Mrs.

Leifer's office, where the teacher would express concern for Darcy's home life.

Mrs.

Leifer also arranged for Darcy to attend extra classes on Sundays.

These lessons would focus on Jewish morals and values and take place both at school and at Mrs.

Leifer's home.

This special treatment from such a well-regarded community leader was seen as an enormous privilege.

There was real status in being one of Mrs.

Leifer's favourites.

Even Dussie's mother was flattered that Mrs.

Leifer would take such an interest in her daughter's education.

At home, Dussie felt unworthy.

But when Mrs.

Leifer showered her with attention, she felt cared for and special.

It was the first time she'd ever felt loved.

Dussie began confiding in Mrs.

Leifer just as Nicole had done and trusted her completely.

One day she wrote in her diary, quote,

I love Mrs.

Leifer.

She is the only person I feel has ever loved me.

Mrs.

Leifer had always been a touchy-feely person.

She would touch students' shoulders often as she guided them down corridors or sometimes give them a quick pat on the back or leg.

Although this behaviour was highly unusual in the Adas community and none of the other teachers ever touched their students, nobody ever questioned Mrs.

Leifer's actions.

They were seen as further evidence of her warm nature.

But when Dussie was 15 years old, the attention from Mrs.

Leifer took a turn.

The teacher's touches began to escalate.

During their meetings at school, Mrs.

Leifer would take Dussie into her office, close the door, and shutter the blinds.

Then she would rub Dussie's back and thighs over the top of her school uniform.

Mrs.

Leifer told Dussie that she loved her and felt like a mother to her.

These touches were her way of showing how close she felt to her.

Then they escalated further.

As well as touching Dussie in her office, Mrs.

Leifer touched her during their one-on-one classes at her home and during school camps.

She began removing Dussie's clothes and focusing on the 15-year-old's stomach and breasts.

Eventually, she started to digitally rape Dussie and would take the teenager's hand and place it on her own body.

Throughout this abuse, Mrs.

Leifer repeatedly told Dussie how much she loved her.

Dussie felt frozen in place, unable to move or speak.

Dussie's strict religious upbringing meant that she had no knowledge of sex or sexual abuse.

Children in the Adas community didn't receive sexual education.

Once they were engaged and planning a wedding, they would attend classes to learn about matters relating to marriage.

This focus on modesty extended to Dussie's home life.

She would only remove her clothes, which consisted of long skirts and sleeves, in the privacy of the bathroom.

No one ever saw her naked body, and she never saw anyone else's either.

Until Mrs.

Leifer began abusing her.

Dussie didn't have the language to describe her body parts or an understanding that would allow her to articulate the abuse.

But she was intuitively aware that what Mrs.

Leifer was doing was wrong.

She was overwhelmed by feelings of shame, embarrassment and fear.

She knew how powerful Mrs.

Leifer was and was aware that Mrs.

Leifer knew secrets about Dussie's home life.

If those secrets were exposed, the community's matchmakers who arranged marriages wouldn't find Dussie a husband.

Although Mrs.

Leifer was charming and charismatic, she also had a nasty streak.

If there was someone in the community who she didn't like, she would turn against them and had the power to turn others against them too.

She wasn't above doing the same to her students.

Mrs.

Leifer would pick on girls whom she didn't like and make rude comments about them.

She was known to be hot and cold by showering particular students with attention for a couple of weeks, then giving them the cold shoulder.

This behavior left the targeted girls distressed and confused.

Everyone wanted to be liked by Mrs.

Leifer.

If a student suddenly found herself in Mrs.

Leifer's bad books, her friends would often avoid her.

scared the principal would also turn against them by association.

Dussie felt powerless and had no idea how to stop what was happening.

The abuse continued over months and then years.

In 2005, when Dussie was in her final year of school, she became engaged to a young man.

Mrs.

Leifer began telling her the abuse was beneficial as it would teach her what to do when she was married.

On one occasion, she kissed Dussie on the mouth.

Dussie hadn't even been aware that this was something people did.

By the end of the school year, Dussie graduated at the age of 18.

But Mrs.

Leifer was so ingrained in her life that the abuse didn't stop there.

She continued to abuse Dussie over the summer months.

At the start of the next school year, Dussie returned to Adas Israel in a teaching role.

Mrs.

Leifer was now Dussie's boss.

The abuse increased over the next eight months until Dussie was married in September 2006 and moved with her new husband to Israel.

Now named Dussie Ehrlich, this was a chance for her to start a new life almost 14,000 kilometers away.

But Dussie continued to struggle.

A few months after she arrived in Israel, the nightmares started.

Bad dreams about what she'd endured at the hands of her former school principal invaded her sleep.

When Dussie wasn't having nightmares, she was lying awake at night, plagued by insomnia.

Her waking hours were equally fraught, with memories of what happened back in Melbourne abruptly invading Dussie's mind.

She grappled with anxiety and flashbacks for months.

Finally, Dussie decided to seek professional help.

She was aware that a social worker she knew from Melbourne was now living nearby.

Hanna Rabinowitz had been employed as a consultant at Adas Israel School between 2001 and 2006 and had worked with students and families there.

About a year after Darcy arrived in Israel, she began having counseling sessions with Hana Rabinowitz.

Darcy didn't tell Hana the extent extent of what she had been suffering.

Instead, she explained that she was having difficulty adjusting to marriage and was feeling isolated in a new country so far away from home.

Hanna Rabinowitz had the distinct impression that there was more going on than that.

She felt as though Darcy might be repressing something.

The two continued their sessions together over the next few months.

During one appointment in February 2008, Hanna realized that Darcy had clearly been abused by somebody in the past.

She asked Darcy directly, who hurt you?

Hunched over and obviously distraught, Darcy whispered, Mrs.

Leifer.

A few days later, Darcy's sister Nicole received a phone call back in Melbourne.

On the other end was social worker Hanna Rabinowitz, who Nicole remembered from Hanna's time in Melbourne.

Hanna didn't waste any time in explaining the reason for her call, stating,

Darcy gave me permission to call you.

I just wanted to ask if you were abused too.

By this time, Nicole was 22 years old and working as a teacher at a Das Israel school.

She'd been teaching there for several years following her graduation in 2003.

Nicole had also married, changed her name to Nicole Meyer and given birth to her first child.

Through all of these milestones, Malka Leifer had been a constant presence in Nicole's life.

Mrs.

Leifer was still the principal of the school and Nicole worked with her every day.

Nicole had struggled to tell anyone about the impact Mrs.

Leifer had held over her for so long, but when she was confronted by Hanna's direct question, she answered automatically,

Yes, I was.

The abuse Nicole had suffered at the hands of Mrs.

Leifer followed a very similar pattern to Darcy's.

Not long after they met, Mrs.

Leifer had started grooming Nicole and gaining her trust.

She singled her out for special treatment and gave her one-on-one Sunday classes.

Mrs.

Leifer had gradually pushed boundaries by first touching Nicole over her school uniform, then progressing to more overt sexual abuse.

After a couple of years, when Nicole was participating in the school's teacher training program, the abuse intensified.

This program involved working very closely with Mrs.

Leifer in a more isolated part of the school.

It meant that Mrs.

Leifer had greater access to Nicole than she'd ever had before, and the control she exerted over Nicole became increasingly extreme.

She assaulted Nicole at the school and at her home where she had Nicole over for weekly meals to mark the Jewish Sabbath.

School camps were another opportunity for Mrs.

Leifer to commit abuse.

Nicole first attended these as a student, then later as a teacher.

On one occasion, Mrs.

Leifer insisted on sharing her bed.

Nicole covered herself up entirely, even wearing thick tights to sleep in, hoping they would deter Mrs.

Leifer.

But they didn't.

During one camp, while Nicole was teaching but Darcy was still a student, The two sisters shared a room with twin beds.

Late at night, when Mrs.

Leifer believed Darcy was sleeping, she climbed into Nicole's bed and raped her.

The next day, Darcy gave Nicole a knowing look, which Nicole returned.

Without exchanging a word, the sisters knew for the first time that they were both victims of the same woman.

Nicole began teaching at Adas Israel in 2004.

That same year, she also became engaged to a young man.

He was the son of a woman whom Mrs.

Leifer disliked, and Mrs.

Leifer made it clear to Nicole how disappointed she was.

After Mrs.

Leifer continually demanded she break off the engagement, Nicole finally gave in to the pressure just five weeks before the wedding.

She called her fiancé and read from a script Mrs.

Leifer had provided, telling him they could not get married.

Nicole subsequently became engaged to another man.

In the seven weeks leading up to her wedding, Mrs.

Leifer repeatedly raped her, telling Nicole she was preparing her for marriage.

The abuse continued after Nicole was married.

A turning point came when she was four months pregnant with her first child.

During one assault when Mrs.

Leifer was lying on top of her, Nicole became terrified that her baby might be crushed by the much larger woman.

As much as possible, she began avoiding situations where she was alone with Mrs.

Leifer and the abuse lessened.

But it didn't stop.

Time went on and Nicole Meyer gave birth to her first child.

She also continued to teach at Adas Israel school.

She didn't speak of the abuse to anyone until she received the call from Hannah Rabinowitz in late February 2008.

A few days after the phone call, Nicole was at work teaching when Malka Leifer suddenly entered her classroom.

She looked scared.

It was the first time Nicole had ever seen Mrs.

Leifer appear unsettled.

She pulled Nicole out of the classroom and began to ask her what she knew and what was going on.

Nicole said she didn't know anything and Mrs.

Leifer left.

Behind the scenes, word had started to spread about Darcy's allegations.

Darcy had told Hanna Rabinowitz that one of her classmates was abused by Mrs.

Leifer as well.

The girl's mother was a staff member at a Das Israel school, so Darcy told Hana to call her.

Hana did so, which prompted the staff member to ask her daughter if she had been abused.

The daughter said she was.

Five days later, on Wednesday, March 5, 2008, an urgent meeting was convened at the home of prominent Adas Israel figure and renowned philanthropist, Izzy Herzog.

Those in attendance included two school board members, a teacher from the school, a barrister, and Herzog's daughter, who was a forensic psychologist.

After some discussion, it was decided that Malka Leifer should be stood down as principal.

The group called Mrs.

Leifer at home and put her on loudspeaker.

When they brought up the allegations, Mrs.

Leifer angrily refuted them, stating,

You have destroyed my reputation.

I'm not going to stand for this.

I'm leaving.

I resign.

By the following morning, she had disappeared.

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Without any explanation, Malka Lifa vanished from the school she led and the broader Adas community.

She left Elstinwick with four of her eight children.

The others and her husband would soon follow.

On Friday, March 7, two days after the school board meeting, staff at Adas Israel were told that Mrs.

Leifer had been stood down and had decided to return to Israel.

The sudden absence of such a prominent and revered leader sent shockwaves through the community.

People were devastated that an integral part of their world was missing and rampant speculation began to spread as to who was responsible.

Who were the girls who had made allegations against Mrs.

Leifer?

Nicole Meyer found herself feeling totally alone.

The abuse had ended with Mrs.

Leifer's departure, but she was still suffering the effects, and now the entire community was speculating about it.

Nicole felt she couldn't tell her husband or anyone else what had happened to her.

Her sister Darcy was the one person who might be able to relate, but she was living on the other side of the world in Israel.

Darcy was struggling as well.

Her symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder continued and she began to self-harm.

In 2009, she became pregnant with with her first child and the following year she gave birth to a daughter.

But what should have been a happy time was also impacted by Dussie's years of trauma.

Breastfeeding her baby triggered traumatic flashbacks of the abuse.

Dussie began to battle suicidal thoughts and was ultimately admitted to a psychiatric hospital for a time.

Another sibling of Dussie and Nicole's had had also started reflecting on her own traumas after Malca Leifer left Melbourne.

Ellie Sapper was one year younger than Darcy.

Like her older sisters, she had attended the Adass Israel School, and, like her sisters, Ellie had yearned for love and attention that she didn't receive at home.

She saw the affectionate way that Mrs.

Leifer treated her sisters and how she nurtured and encouraged them.

Ellie was in awe of her.

Mrs.

Leifer's caring nature seemed to prove that it was possible to be loved.

Nicole and Darcy cautioned Ellie to stay away from Mrs.

Leifer, though they didn't say why.

They didn't have the word to explain what the principal did to them.

By the end of 2005, Nicole was in her second year of teaching and Darcy was about to graduate.

Ellie was 16 years old and preparing to finish year 11.

This was when Mrs.

Leifer started paying attention to her.

She began grooming Ellie as she'd done to Nicole and Adassi years earlier.

She was the first person to ever tell Ellie that she loved her.

And then she progressed to sexually abusing her.

explaining that this was how she expressed her love.

In total, it continued for two years.

After leaving school at the end of 2006, Ellie began slowly distancing herself from the Adass congregation.

She made new friends from Melbourne's wider Jewish community who followed a more contemporary interpretation of the religion.

Ellie became particularly close to a young man named David, a friendship which would have been forbidden in the ultra-Orthodox circle Ellie was raised in.

David was struck by how sheltered Ellie was.

There were so many things about modern life that she'd never been exposed to before.

A little over a year after Ellie graduated, Darcy's allegations against Malka Leifer prompted Mrs.

Leifer to leave Melbourne.

The fallout within the Adas community led to Ellie questioning what she'd endured.

Slowly, she began confiding in David about the abuse.

David was horrified and encouraged Ellie to inform the police.

Ellie hadn't been aware that this was something she could even do.

After months of encouragement from David, the two of them finally went to a police station together one day in 2010.

Ellie was nervous, but finally ready to report the abuse.

Ellie didn't tell her sisters what she had done, but Darcy had since moved back to Melbourne and her own struggles gradually led her to distance herself from the Adas community as well.

In mid-2011, she decided to make her own statement to the police.

A few months later in October, Nicole did the same.

Armed with three corroborating reports accusing the same woman of sexual abuse, the police took the case seriously and began to investigate.

There was evidence that the three Sapper sisters were not Malka Leifa's only victims.

In total, she was suspected of abusing between 8 and 14 girls at Adas Israel school.

Victoria police ultimately wrote up an arrest warrant for 74 counts of child sexual abuse, with charges ranging from indecent assault to rape.

The police told the three sisters that because Malka Leifer was now living in Israel, they would have to obtain an extradition order.

As Australia had an extradition agreement with Israel, the sisters were given the impression that having Mrs.

Leifer returned to the country would be a fairly straightforward process.

It involved police in Melbourne sending papers requesting Malka Leifer's extradition to law enforcement in Australia's capital city of Canberra.

After approving the request, Canberra officials would then forward it to Israeli authorities.

In all, they could expect the extradition request to be acted on within 12 to 18 months.

But two years passed with no news.

Then, in September 2014, Malka Leifer was suddenly arrested by law enforcement officers in B'nei Braque, a city just east of Tel Aviv that is a centre of ultra-Orthodox Judaism.

When Nicole Meyer received a call back in Melbourne informing her of the news, she almost dropped the phone in shock.

The day that she and her sisters had long awaited was finally here.

Malka Leifer spent two months in custody before her lawyers successfully argued that she be kept under house arrest while the extradition hearings took place.

However, once Mrs.

Leifer was back living with her family, she complained that she was suffering panic attacks and extreme anxiety in the lead-up to her extradition hearing.

A delay was granted.

Then, Mrs.

Leifer stopped showing up at court altogether.

Her attorneys explained that her mental health had deteriorated so much that she was incapable of attending or even understanding what was going on in the courtroom.

Israeli law requires a suspect or a defendant to be present for all hearings pertaining to them.

Each time Mrs.

Leifer failed to attend a hearing, it was postponed to a later date.

But she never returned.

Months passed and then years.

In total, Mrs.

Leifer was given more than 35 court dates, most of which she failed to attend.

Her lawyers explained that her health had deteriorated so badly that she now needed a carer to look after her.

She couldn't communicate and was described as being like, quote, a sack of potatoes in terms of her mental capacity.

At the beginning of 2016, the psychiatrist for the court submitted a report that stated, quote,

The patient is totally non-functional, confined to her bed and is on the verge of having a power of attorney appointed for her.

By mid-2016, the focus had turned from whether she was well enough to attend the hearings to whether she was even capable of standing trial at all.

A loophole in Israeli law meant that individuals who are mentally unwell cannot face extradition hearings.

In June 2016, a judge ruled that the current situation could not continue.

It was ordered that the extradition hearing be suspended altogether.

Instead, Mrs.

Leifer would have to appear before a psychiatric panel once every six months.

This arrangement would be put in place for 10 years.

Leifer would no longer be kept on house arrest and was now free to go wherever she wanted.

Nicole, Darcy and Ellie were devastated.

It had been five years since they reported the crimes to police and now it felt as though Mrs.

Leifer would never be held accountable.

Moreover, they had all suffered immense personal losses due to reporting their allegations.

Although they hadn't gone public or been named in the media, Those within the Adas congregation knew who was behind the accusations.

This led to many people shunning and ostracizing the three sisters.

Those who were supportive said nothing, too scared to speak out.

Then there were others who actively tried to stop the sisters' pursuit of justice.

Nicole, Darcy and Delhi had an older sister named Dahlia who lived in Manchester, England.

She was residing in an ultra-Orthodox community there and worked as a principal at a religious school.

In August 2014, 39-year-old Dahlia was approached by two ultra-Orthodox men with connections to Malka Leifer.

They had flown to Manchester from Israel just to speak to her.

The men told Dahlia

younger sisters to drop the charges against Malka Leifer.

They warned Dahlia that if Nicole, Darcy and Ellie continued with the case against Mrs.

Leifer, then their other family members, including Dahlia, would be impacted.

Dahlia would have her career destroyed and her children's marriage prospects would be ruined.

Dahlia was distressed.

She went to a rabbi in her community and asked for advice.

He took the men's side, encouraging Dahlia to do as they said and remain silent against Mrs.

Leifer.

This advice devastated her even further.

Dahlia called her sisters back in Melbourne and told them what had happened.

She reassured them that she wouldn't act on the threats, stating,

I would rather die than do anything like that.

Within two weeks of being approached by the men, Dahlia died from heart-related issues.

Nicole, Darcy and Ellie were certain that the threats had taken a fatal toll on Dahlia.

They saw their sister as another victim of Malka Leifer.

Her sudden death had devastated them, but they refused to drop their cases.

Instead, they began to fight harder.

In 2015, Darcy Ehrlich filed a civil suit against Adas Israel School.

In March 2017, the year after Malka Leifer was freed from house arrest and appearing in court, Dussie made the decision to go public.

She began talking with the media about her allegations and openly campaigning for other survivors of child sexual abuse.

She also started meeting with politicians and other officials whom she hoped could help in the fight to return Mrs.

Leifer to Melbourne.

Dussy dubbed her campaign, Bring Leifer Back.

Then, two months later, Nicole received a text message from a former classmate.

The classmate's sister had been attending a religious festival in northern Israel when she noticed a familiar face amongst the crowd.

It was Malka Leifer.

Despite Leifa's lawyers arguing she was housebound and needed a carer to help her function, she looked strong and healthy.

The classmate's sister snapped a photo of Leifa and the classmate forwarded it to Nicole.

Seeing Leifa casually standing out in public with no sign that she was unwell was galling.

It seemed to completely refute the claims that Leifa was bedridden and unable to attend court.

Nicole sent the photo to Darcy who posted it on Facebook.

From there it went viral and Darcy's campaign picked up speed.

Within several months, Nicole and Ellie went public alongside Darcy.

They gained the support of Australia's Prime Minister and Victoria's Premier.

The story made major headlines all over the country and word spread internationally.

In November 2017, the three sisters travelled to Jerusalem to campaign for Leifa's extradition.

The nine-day visit was packed with meetings with Israeli politicians, the Israeli justice minister, and the country's top prosecutor.

The sisters also met with other survivors and victims' advocates.

One individual who reached out to them was Shana Aronson, the Israeli director of Jewish Community Watch, a global organization aimed at preventing child sexual abuse within Orthodox Judaism.

Shana Shana was well aware of how Israel could be used as a safe haven by some sex offenders.

After 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, the State of Israel was founded on the basis of protecting Jewish people from persecution elsewhere.

One of the country's foundational laws was the law of return, which gave all Jews the right to move there and become Israeli citizens.

According to Shana Aronson and others working in child protection in Israel, this had led to a number of incidents where individuals wanted for sex crimes in other countries would hide out in Israel.

At the time, there were 64 other suspected sexual offenders who were allegedly seeking refuge there.

Most of these people were either Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox.

They would move into isolated and insular communities within Israel where it was harder for authorities to access them.

Shana agreed with Nicole, Darcy and Eli that Malka Leifa was likely lying about her ill health in order to evade justice.

It just seemed too coincidental that a fifth and able-bodied woman who was also a community leader would suddenly deteriorate right in the middle of being taken to court.

Shana Aronson believed that if they could show Leifa was lying, then Israeli authorities would be forced to re-arrest her.

And she had a plan as to how they could prove it.

Case file will be back shortly.

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Emmanuel is a small, impoverished Israeli settlement on the West Bank near Jerusalem.

It is one of eight ultra-Orthodox settlements along the West Bank.

In 2016, after it was ruled that Malka Leifer would no longer have to attend extradition hearings, she relocated to Emmanuel with her husband.

Leifer's husband, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Leifer, reportedly led the small community there.

They had closed ranks around his wife, believing she should not have to face secular authorities in Australia for the allegations against her.

Shana Aronson and the team at Jewish Community Watch had decided that the best way to find out if Malka Leifa was lying was to send private investigators after her.

The investigators would be tasked with looking into Leifa's day-to-day activities in the hopes of disproving her claims of being incapacitated with mental illness.

Because Emmanuel is highly insular, Jewish Community Watch knew that sending in private investigators would be be a slow and careful process.

The lead investigator, Safriya Sahi, decided his team would pose as construction workers.

This would be the easiest way to slip into the community without attracting attention.

The undercover agents were armed with tiny cameras installed into what looked like everyday items like sets of keys, water bottles and bags.

While pretending to work on construction sites, shop at local stores and chat on the street, they would try to catch Mauka Leifa out and about.

On the late morning of Wednesday, December 14, cameras caught Leifa standing on a street with one of her sons.

She was chatting on the phone, completely unaware that she was being filmed.

Four days later, Leifa was filmed as she shopped at a grocery store and made inquiries with the shopkeeper.

Private Private investigators captured Leifa smiling, having all-day-long phone conversations, meeting with others for social engagements and carrying shopping home by herself.

She caught an hour-long bus trip to Tel Aviv to visit some of her children and grandchildren in the suburb where they lived.

On weekends, her children traveled to Emmanuel to visit her.

The reality of Leifa's situation was nothing like the picture that had been painted by her lawyers.

Private investigators saw no sign of the carer she supposedly required.

Instead, they'd captured more than 200 hours of footage that showed Malka Leifa leading a normal life.

This footage was handed over to Israeli police who commenced their own investigation into the matter.

In February 2018, after concluding that the former school principal was feigning her illness, police re-arrested Malka Leifer.

Almost exactly a decade after Darcy Ehrlich first accused Leifer of abusing her, the extradition hearings began again.

Finally, after a total of 74 court dates and years of delays, the Israeli court rejected Leifer's claim of mental illness and ruled that she was fit to stand trial in Australia in May 2020.

Seven months later, the extradition order was signed and on Monday, January 25, 2021, Mauka Leifer was flown back to Melbourne.

She would be held on remand until it was time for her trial.

Nicole Meyer, Darcy Orlik and Ellie Sapper were overjoyed that their abuser would finally have to face them in court.

They had always felt that in coming forward they were speaking on behalf of survivors who felt unable to.

And Mauka Leifer had many other alleged victims.

Before Leifa moved to Melbourne in 2001, she had been a teacher at an ultra-Orthodox girls' school in B'nei Brak, Israel.

At least one woman had reported that Leifa had abused her when she was a student there.

Rumour had it that she wasn't the only one, and the school's administration had known they had a problem when it came to Leifa.

It was said that was why they'd provided glowing references when Adas Israel School looked into hiring her.

They were eager to get rid of the problem.

During her time at Adas Israel School, Leifa had allegedly abused up to 15 girls.

Aside from Nicole, Darcy and Eli, none had publicly come forward or filed criminal reports.

And after Leifer fled to Israel in 2008, the abuses continued.

In 2018, the Sydney Morning Herald published an article that looked into the Emmanuel settlement where Leifer was living.

One resident who went by the name Daniel told the Sydney Morning Herald that shortly after arriving in Emmanuel, Leifer offered to privately tutor his daughter religious studies.

Unaware of her history or the accusations against her, Daniel agreed.

When his daughter reported that Leifa had abused her during their lessons, Daniel was furious.

He hired a private investigator to follow Leifa and began observing her himself.

According to Daniel, Leifa would lure disadvantaged children into her home by offering them free food and lessons.

On one occasion, he witnessed Leifa grab a blonde-haired girl, then grope her chest and buttocks.

Daniel decided to confront Leifa's husband about what she had done to his daughter.

Her husband replied,

She likes to touch, but that's all she does, because she's a loving person.

But we did try not to leave her alone with kids.

The trial of Mauka Leifer, who was now now 56 years old, began in Melbourne in February 2023.

Most of the original 74 charges were dropped, leaving Leifer to face 27 counts of rape and indecent assault.

The trial lasted six weeks and it took the jury almost two weeks to deliberate.

On Monday, April 3, they were ready to deliver their verdict.

Because there were so many many charges, the verdict for each had to be announced individually.

Nicole, Darcy and Ellie were in the courtroom holding each other's hands.

The first five charges related to the abuse of Nicole Meyer.

Each count was read aloud and then the verdict followed.

All five were found not guilty.

Nicole's heart dropped.

She felt like falling to the ground, but she managed to stay upright, squeezing her sister's hands even harder.

As the jury moved on to the charges relating to Darcy, the verdict of not guilty was repeated four more times.

But then, as they continued with the remaining charges, the answer changed.

Guilty.

Guilty.

Guilty.

Malka Leifer was found guilty on 18 counts of rape, indecent assault and sexual penetration of a child aged 16 or 17.

All of these charges related to crimes against Dussy Ehrlich and Elie Sapper between 2003 and 2007.

The three sisters felt a rush of relief, which for Nicole was tinged with pain.

She turned around to stare at Malka Leifer, who was seated alone in the back of the courtroom.

As Nicole glared at Leifa, she tried to communicate a silent message that she didn't care what the jury had decided.

She knew what Leifa had done and wanted to show her that she wasn't broken.

Leifer refused to meet Nicole's eyes.

Nicole knew this meant her message had been received.

Dussie Ehrlich and Ellie Sapper read from victim impact statements during Mauka Leifa's sentencing hearing.

Dussie described how Leifa had whispered, I love you like a mother, as she reached under Dussy's clothes for the very first time.

Dussie said that this betrayal from the first person to ever show her a maternal kind of love had damaged her ability to trust forever.

Leifa's abuse had caused Dussie to suffer migraines, chronic illness and struggles with her mental health that often left her feeling suicidal.

Quote,

Her abuse still lives within my body.

In some ways her trauma will always live within my body.

The abuse has forced me numerous times to choose between life and death.

Ellie Sapper described the flashbacks, nightmares and panic attacks she still experienced on a daily basis.

She also revealed that up until recently, she had been pregnant.

Throughout the trial, Ellie's unborn daughter had been a light that gave her courage.

But six days before Life's verdict was delivered, her baby's heart stopped beating.

Ellie told the court, quote,

I will never know if the stress, the worry, the anxiety, or the years of trauma played any part in the loss of my little girl.

Both Ellie and Darcy said that despite the damage Lifer had done, she hadn't managed to destroy them.

Addressing Lifer directly, Darcy stated,

Malka Leifer, you shattered my trust and stole my body and altered my life's course.

But you could not break my spirit.

Today I stand as a survivor.

Your darkness does not define me.

Instead, I choose to focus on the light within myself, the love that surrounds me, and the power of my own voice.

I will continue to heal and grow and thrive.

Malka Life's barrister argued that his client should receive a credit for being found not guilty of abusing Nicole Meyer.

He also said that her period of home detention years earlier in Israel should count towards a reduced sentence.

But the prosecution reminded the court that Israeli authorities found Leifa had feigned mental illness for four years to avoid justice.

That only came to an end after private investigators proved she was lying.

not because Mauka Leifer had suddenly demonstrated remorse.

Therefore, the home detention in Israel should not factor into her sentence at all.

In August 2023, the judge sentenced Malka Leifer to 15 years in custody, with a non-parole period of 11 years and 6 months.

In the two years since her incarceration, there have already been multiple reports of Leifer committing further offences against other inmates.

In April 2025, news broke that Malka Leifer had formed a relationship with Samantha Azapardi, a con artist whose case was covered in episode 323 of Case File.

There were reports that 58-year-old Leifer was seen exchanging notes with 36-year-old Samantha, and that Leifer had once kissed Samantha on the lips.

Nicole Meyer, Dussy Ehrlich and Ellie Sapper told news.com.au that this development was extremely disturbing, given Samantha Azapardi's history of dressing up as a schoolgirl and her mental health issues relating to sexual abuse.

Several months later, in July 2025, Leifa was accused of sexually assaulting an Aboriginal inmate aged in her 20s.

A source told news outlets that the assault was captured on CCTV and took place in the Murray unit, a section of the prison where inmates are segregated for their own protection.

Following this incident, Lifa was moved to solitary confinement.

She cannot mix with other inmates and is confined to her cell for at least 23 hours a day.

Her only daily break is to be permitted a 20-minute visit to an airing yard or to a lounge room with a broken television.

In the wake of these incidents, Nicole Meyer told news.com.au,

I just hope the community or members of her family have a deep hard think about reading these stories and maybe, just maybe, start to believe that Malka Leifer did actually abuse us.

In addition to wanting Mauka Leifer held accountable, Nicole Meyer, Darcy Orlik and Ellie Sapper had wanted their former school to answer for its lack of duty of care.

Nicole and Ellie reached out-of-court settlements with Adas Israel School, but when negotiations failed with Dussie, she sued them for negligence in 2015.

This civil suit led to a disturbing revelation.

On Wednesday, March 5, 2008, a group of individuals associated with the Adas Israel School, including two board members, had attended an urgent meeting to discuss the emerging allegations against Malka Leifer.

The attendees called Leifer at her home to address the abuse claims, which she denied.

The story the school had always told was that Leifa was subsequently stood down.

In reality, they told her to leave the country.

Between 9 and 10 o'clock that night, the wife of one of the school board members called a local travel agent.

She said said someone needed to travel to Israel urgently and requested the next possible flight.

Using school funds, she paid for Malka Leifer and four of her children to fly out of Melbourne at 1.20 a.m.

No one from the school who knew about the allegations notified the police.

More than eight years later, Malka Leifer was living in the Israeli settlement of Emmanuel and was still abusing girls.

Daniel, the father of one of these girls, began secretly recording Leifa and her husband after she kept harassing his daughter.

He also looked into Leifa's past and discovered she was on the run from sexual abuse allegations in Australia.

During a conversation with Leifa's husband, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Leifer, The rabbi admitted that they and their children were paid to leave Australia just hours after Lifa was confronted about the allegations.

Leifa hadn't made her own decision to flee Australia.

Instead, the school that employed her had decided to help her escape rather than refer her to law enforcement for her crimes against children.

Moreover, the suit also found that a teacher at the school had been told about Leifa, quote, crossing boundaries with girls at least six months before Darcy raised the alarm.

The judge who was presiding over the civil suit lashed out at the school board for these actions, stating,

The conduct amounts to disgraceful behavior demonstrating a complete disregard for Leifer's victims.

It demonstrates a disdain for due process of criminal investigation in this state.

The judge found that at the time of Darcy's abuse, the school had no processes or procedures in place to handle potential sexual misconduct by a staff member against students.

At least two teachers had noticed or been told about Leifer's inappropriate behaviour with students, but said they had no one they could report it to because, quote, Mrs.

Leifer was the principal.

The judge awarded Darcy more than AU$1.1 million Australian dollars in damages to be paid paid by the school.

Leifer herself was ordered to pay Darcy an additional $150,000.

The revelation that the school board had facilitated and arranged Leifer's escape upset and angered Leifer's victims and the broader community.

Some members of the public demanded that those responsible face criminal charges for their actions.

Victoria Police looked into the matter but closed their investigation in 2018, explaining there was, quote, insufficient evidence to proceed with any charges at this time.

Advocates for sexual abuse survivors openly voiced their disappointment in this decision.

In June 2023, the police announced that they would reopen the probe now that the more pressing criminal trial against Malka Leifer was complete.

Dussy Ehrlich told The Age newspaper that she welcomed the decision, stating,

The actions of the board in facilitating Malka Life's escape not only betrayed the pursuit of justice and caused significant delays, it also perpetuated the anguish we were forced to endure and hindered our path to healing.

As of the release of this episode of Case File, that investigation is ongoing.

The actions of the school board have been compared to the way the Catholic Church has been found to transfer pedophile priests to new parishes when allegations were made against them.

Experts have said that the insular nature of some religious institutions has led them to prioritize their own reputations over reporting crimes to law enforcement.

In the case of Malka Leifer, some people have pointed to a Jewish dictate known as Masira.

This is a law against informing on a fellow Jew to secular authorities.

It was most likely initiated when Jews were living under Roman or Persian law.

As the Jewish people continued to be persecuted by other groups through the centuries, Masira remained significant.

Masira has been cited in other cases of child sexual abuse within Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox institutions in Australia.

Masira likely also played a role in how Malka Leifer's case was handled by some officials in Israel.

After Leifer was re-arrested in 2018, a prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbi burst into the courtroom during one of her hearings.

He demanded Leifa be released into his care for home detention, arguing that it was a humiliation for her to be kept in custody.

The judge agreed until an enormous public backlash led to the rabbi withdrawing his support.

In February 2019, it was revealed that Israel's then Deputy Health Minister, Yaakov Litzmann, was suspected of having worked to protect Leifa.

Like Leifa, Litzmann follows an ultra-Orthodox form of Judaism.

Police were investigating him on suspicion of witness tampering in the case.

In April 2015, the court psychiatrist tasked with examining Leifer found no signs of mental illness and said she was fit to stand trial.

By the start of 2016, he went back on this, writing in a new report,

The patient is totally non-functional, confined to her bed, and is on the verge of having a power of attorney appointed for her.

He hadn't seen this for himself, but it was what Leifer's sister-in-law had told him.

And it was this report that led to Leifer's extradition hearing ceasing altogether.

When Malka Leifer was later found to have feigned her mental illness, the psychiatrist approved a report saying she was fit for trial.

He later reneged on this yet again when Leifer's defense attorneys questioned him on the stand while appealing her extradition.

According to Israeli police, this was due to Deputy Health Minister Litzmann placing pressure on him.

It was reported that police had phone messages and recordings of Litzman requesting that officials in Israel's health ministry act to ensure Leifa wasn't extradited to Australia.

Litzman allegedly threatened to fire people if Leifa didn't receive the desired psychiatric reports.

The police recommended a Litzman be prosecuted for his actions.

In January 2022, he signed a plea deal acknowledging that he had criminally assisted Mauke Leifer in evading extradition to Australia.

As part of the deal, he had to pay a fine and retire.

Many in Melbourne's Addas community remain silent regarding Nauka Lifer's crimes.

Dussy Orlik and Ellie Sapper have both left the congregation, but Nicole Meyer remains on its fringes.

She finds this silence one of the hardest things to grapple with.

Only recently, she spoke with a woman who said she had known about the abuse.

She had actually once walked in on Leifer abusing Nicole.

But she begged Nicole not to tell tell anyone what she'd said.

Hearing things like this has been particularly difficult when Nicole is the only one of the three sisters that Leifer wasn't convicted of abusing.

Nicole doesn't know why Leifer was acquitted of her charges, but suspects it was due to the limited information presented to the jury.

Evidence could only be given about two specific time periods that Leifer was charged for.

They weren't told about the broader context, including the earlier years of grooming and abuse.

Like her sisters, Nicole wrote a lengthy victim impact statement, but because Leifa was acquitted of her charges, she couldn't read it in court.

Instead, she shared it with the media outside the courthouse.

She described the scars she was left with, both visible and invisible, and how the abuse has had ongoing ramifications for Nicole's well-being.

It has impacted her relationships with other people including those closest to her.

To this day Nicole suffers from sleep disorders and finds particular places triggering.

In the years after Lifer left Australia, Nicole was harmed by another authority figure she placed trust in.

She blames the abuse she suffered as a teenager for making her vulnerable to another predator.

Quote,

My radar was so compromised that I did not see the red flags until I was harmed again.

Mrs.

Leifer took away the part of me that would have known how to trust my own instinct and feel I don't deserve to get hurt, or know that care from some people is a very dangerous thing.

Not only was Leifer's verdict personally devastating for Nicole, but it hurt as the only one of the three sisters who is still ultra-Orthodox.

While all three women have become advocates for child sexual abuse survivors, Nicole particularly wanted to be an example for survivors in the ultra-Orthodox community.

She hoped to demonstrate it was possible to remain in the faith while also seeking justice.

The not guilty verdict has made her feel as though other ultra-Orthodox victims might remain reluctant to come forward.

But it's clear that some have found strength in the sisters' fight.

In May 2023, another victim of Maucha Life is from Adas Israel school reached an out-of-court settlement with the school.

And survivors from all over the world have reached out to Nicole, Dussie and Ellie via social media.

In January 2024, Dussie Ehrlich published a memoir titled, In Bad Faith.

Dussie's book tells her story in her own words and received widespread acclaim upon its publication.

Nicole Meyer began studying law as a way to help more victim survivors in a system that still has much room for improvement.

She also performs advocacy work both online and in person.

with a special focus on assisting survivors who have been harmed within a religious community.

This work has seen her support survivors from various religious faiths and from countries all over the world.

Nicole is affiliated with National Survivors Day, an annual day of recognition for survivors of sexual abuse and their supporters, and the National Survivors Foundation.

In an effort to speak out further for other survivors, The sisters agreed to share their journey for justice with filmmakers Adam Kamian and Ivan O'Mani.

Over the course of five years, the filmmakers interviewed the trio and followed their case in real time as they fought for Leifer's return to Australia.

Their documentary, titled Revealed, Surviving Mauka Lifer, premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August 2025.

At the time of this episode's release, Australian listeners can watch the documentary on the streaming platform Stan.

In November 2017, when the three sisters made their journey to Israel to campaign for life as extradition, they stopped at a restaurant in Jerusalem.

While they were sitting at their table, they were approached by an ultra-Orthodox teenage girl.

She had seen the sisters on the news and heard about their campaign.

In an interview with the age, Darcy explained why the girl had approached them.

Quote,

She shared a similar story to ours, an insular school, vulnerable students, a female principal abusing her power.

As soon as she said it, you could see the fear.

She wouldn't tell us her name or what school she went to.

But seeing us, our story, and the campaign on TV had given her the courage and understanding to stop what was happening to her.

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