After receiving the report pertaining to her mental competence, a court has released Rebbetzin Malka Laufer from jail with restrictions, placing her in the custody of her sister, where she must remain under house arrest. She will remain there until Friday as the court addresses a petition to refrain from implementing an extradition request filed by authorities in Australia, where she would face criminal proceedings for assaulting over 70 students in her capacity as a school principal if extradited.

The court first denied a request to extradite her immediately pending another psychiatric evaluation by state psychiatric officials. As such, the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday made the decision to release her from incarceration with restrictions, to house arrest at her sister’s home. It appears flaws have been revealed in the expert opinion filed in her case – which state she is qualified to stand trial, while the earlier expert opinion states she is not mentally competent to stand trial appears to have been untrue.

Jerusalem District Court Judge Miriam Lump, who decided not to begin the extradition process of Malka Laufer to Australia, where authorities wish to charge with 74 counts of pedophilia, is trying to receive new expert opinions regarding the defendant’s mental state via-v-vis extradition and a criminal trial. The court has decided to appoint an expert panel which will determine if reports of her mental incompetence are bogus or if she is really unfit to stand trial. The court also wishes to determine if the earlier reports stating she is unfit mentally were forged for one reason or another.

A number of weeks ago, YWN-Israel reported that Israel Police recommended filing criminal charges against Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, who is accused of abusing the authority of his office to prevent Laufer’s extradition. Litzman allegedly used his position to influence psychiatrists appointed by the state in the case to submit an official opinion that Laufer is mentally unfit to stand trial.

Dassi Erlich, who reported she was a victim of Laufer when she was young and Laufer was school principal, explained to authorities “She told us that we are like her children and that is how she succeeded in assaulting us”.

In July 2019, a medical committee probing her mental status explained the former school principal in Australia is accused of pedophilia in Australia, and she is presenting herself as being mentally ill. Australian officials have been pressing for her extradition for years, but according to suspicions, this has been blocked due to the intervention of Litzman. The expert medical panel adds it received opinion papers from the Israel Prison Authority (IPA) from Laufer’s physician that appear to be untrue, all towards preventing her extradition. Police are probing the allegedly forged documents towards apprehending those responsible.

There have been regular discrepancies between reports from physicians used by her defense attorney and state medical experts, with the former insisting she is not acting and is indeed mentally unfit, while the latter insists, she is fit to stand trial.

Now the matter will have to be adjudicated by the court.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)