Australian jury mulls verdicts in Israeli principal trial

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian jury has retired to consider their verdicts following the six-week trial of a former principal of a Melbourne ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls school accused of molesting three sisters. Tel Aviv-born Malka Leifer has pleaded not guilty in the Victoria state county court to 27 sexual offenses that were allegedly committed at the school, at her Melbourne home and at school camps. The 12 jurors retired on Wednesday to begin their deliberations. A prosecutor has asked the jurors to consider that the 56-year-old mother of eight tended to have a sexual interest in girls when they were teenage students at the school and later when those same girls became student teachers. Leifer’s lawyer has highlighted variations in the sisters’ accounts.