The former headmistress of a prestigious Melbourne school who was jailed for raping two of her students has reportedly been receiving special treatment behind bars.
Malka Leifer, 58, ran the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick, which caters to the city’s ultra-orthodox Jewish community, but fled back to Israel in 2008 after the allegations against her first arose.
Following a lengthy process to extradite her to Australia to stand trial, she was jailed for 15 years in 2023 for the rape and indecent assault of Melbourne sisters Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper.
A former inmate of the maximum security Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, in the outer Melbourne suburb of Deer Park, has now claimed Leifer is receiving perks other prisoners do not get while she is held in the protection unit.
‘Malka has a microwave in her room, cooking equipment, gets special orders every Thursday,’ she told news.com.au. ‘She wanted an airfryer and had members of the Jewish community write authorities about it. She gets whatever she wants.’
The former inmate also said she is allowed to make challah, a special bread that is often baked for the Jewish Sabbath observed every Saturday.
One of her victims, Elly Sapper, was appalled to hear of the perks Leifer was getting.
‘To hear that she’s doing this brings back so much of the way she acted in court which was no remorse and arrogance. It kind of brings out this anger again. It’s shocking,’ she said.
Sisters Elly Sapper, Nicole Meyer and Dassi Erlich are seen reading statements about the impact of Malka Leifer’s offending outside Victoria’s County Court in June, 2023
Malka Leifer (pictured right) sexually abused two students at an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne. She was sentenced to 15 years behind bars in 2023
According to the former inmate, Leifer is disliked by other prisoners because of her arrogance.
She previously claimed Leifer was in a relationship with conwoman Samantha Azzopardi, 36, who was jailed for fraudulently claiming compensation by posing as a sex trafficked 17-year-old from Belgium known as Hattie Leigh.
She alleged the pair would write each other notes and often spend time in a laundry area where there is no CCTV.
Leifer targeted the sisters between 2004 and 2007 when they were students and later in their first year as student teachers.
The offending occurred while the headmistress was aged between 37 and 41 while Ms Erlich was aged between 16 and 19 and Ms Sapper aged 17 and 18.
The sisters previously welcomed the sentence but said it would never be enough.
‘The ruling of 15 years recognises the harm and pain that Malka Leifer caused each one of us to suffer over so many years,’ Ms Sapper said.
‘While no amount of years will ever be sufficient, we are relieved that Malka Leifer is now in prison for 15 years and cannot prey on anyone else.’
Samantha Azzopardi (pictured) is serving a two-year jail sentence for claiming compensation by posing as a sex-trafficked schoolgirl from Belgium named Hattie Leigh
The sisters campaigned for years to bring Leifer to justice and Ms Erlich said it was because they had not given up that they were successful.
‘While we know the onus of fighting for justice should not be up to survivors, this fight was never just for us,’ she said.
