Headmistress guilty of sexual abuse at Australian school

MELBOURNE: A former headmistress was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting two sisters at an ultra-orthodox Jewish school in Australia, 15 years after she escaped arrest by fleeing to Israel.

Malka Leifer was guilty on 18 charges, the jury said, including raping a student during a sleep-over and sexually assaulting another teenage pupil during a school camp. She was cleared of a further nine charges. Leifer was the principal of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne when she was first accused of sexual assault in 2008.