Malka Leifer, a former principal of Adass Israel school in Elsternwick, arranged for a student to meet her in another teacher’s office that had no windows and a lockable door before abusing her, a court has heard.
Leifer has been charged with 29 offences against three sisters between 2003 and 2007, including 10 counts of rape.
She has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is facing trial at the county court in Melbourne.
Dr Vicki Gordon, a clinical and forensic psychologist who treated Elly Sapper, one of Leifer’s alleged victims, told the court on Monday about the notes she had taken after an appointment in March 2008.
During the session, Gordon said Sapper was “full of shame” and would send her text messages regarding the alleged abuse committed by Leifer while sitting across from her “because she couldn’t mouth the words. She was too embarrassed”.
Gordon said that according to her notes Sapper told her that Leifer justified the abuse by saying that Sapper would “would never be able to give a man pleasure” unless she participated, and said the alleged victim “needed it because I never had warmth and affection at home”.
Sapper told Gordon that Leifer would ask her to meet in another teacher’s office, as, unlike Leifer’s office, this one had no windows and a door which could be locked from the inside.
According to Gordon’s notes, she was told Sapper “never liked [the abuse] from the beginning” but that Leifer would just continue and did not listen to her, and occasionally hurt her.
Under cross-examination from Leifer’s lawyer Ian Hill KC, Gordon agreed that Sapper had been seeing her for “multi-faceted” reasons, not just because of Leifer.
The court also heard on Monday from Joshua Erlich, the former husband of another one of Leifer’s alleged victims.
He told the court his former wife Dassi Erlich thought of Leifer as a “replacement mother” and said her sisters felt the same, saying she completely adored Leifer and spoke “glowingly” of her until allegations regarding the abuse surfaced.
The sisters were particularly pleased that Leifer allowed them to spend as much time as possible at school so they could be away from their “controlling” mother, Erlich said, and considered school safer than home.
Leifer told Erlich “[Dassi] is a very good girl, and that I deserve her” shortly before they were married, and the couple lived in Leifer’s home for a month immediately after their wedding while Leifer and her husband were in Israel, he told the court.
But about midnight in early 2008 he woke in bed to hear his wife speaking with her sister Nicole Meyer on the phone.
Meyer disclosed something about her relationship with Leifer to Chana Rabinowitz, a school counsellor, that the counsellor had been “taken aback by”, he told the court.
She told Rabinowitz that there was a close relationship with Leifer and that she would occasionally touch her on the leg comfortingly.
The nature of the conversation, Erlich said, made him feel his wife was “quite scared and panicked about what was happening and what was going to flow”.
Erlich said Leifer was not spoken about again until his wife and Meyer started discussing their former principal in 2011.
He said the pair were discussing ways in which they could harass Leifer, speaking about it as if it was a fun and exciting thing to do and laughing about it.
Erlich agreed with Hill that he told them it was a bad idea and to “just leave it alone”, but when Hill asked if she was suffering from depression at the time answered:.
“I don’t know what she was suffering from but she was definitely not in a stable mental state,” he said.
Prof Lorraine Dennerstein, a psychiatrist who assessed Meyer, gave evidence that Meyer told her in 2014 that Leifer started treating her as a “favourite” in year 12.
Meyer’s increased involvement with Leifer initially provided relief from her “shit” home life, Dennerstein said, as previously her mother making her miss school and excursions so Meyer could clean the house.
But Meyer told Dennerstein that the inappropriate touching started that year, and that it became more serious the following year when she worked as a trainee teacher at the school.
Dennerstein said that Meyer also told her in 2014 that Leifer had kept abusing her even after knowing she was married and pregnant.
The alleged victims have consented to being named by Guardian Australia.
The trial before judge Mark Gamble continues.
In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
