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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Benita Kolovos Victorian state correspondent

‘We were the ones on trial’: the torturous road to justice for three sisters abused by school principal Malka Leifer

From left: Elly Sapper, Dassi Erlich and Nicole Meyer
From left: Elly Sapper, Dassi Erlich and Nicole Meyer. Taken on Tuesday 30 September 2025. Photograph: Charlie Kinross/The Guardian

Three sisters, Nicole Meyer, Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper, walk hand in hand into a Melbourne courtroom for the first day of the trial of Malka Leifer, their former school principal and abuser.

Nicole, who will give evidence first, is smiling but anxious. She’s spent days holed up in a serviced apartment near Melbourne’s county court with her sisters, poring over her witness statement. Even in the car on the way to court, she’s re-reading it.

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