The Sydney gang rapes were a series of
gang rape
In scholarly literature and criminology, gang rape, also called serial gang rape, party rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrato ...
attacks committed by a group of up to 14 youths led by
Bilal Skaf against
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
women and teenage girls (2 with Italian parents, 1 with Greek parents and one Aboriginal Australian girl), as young as 14, in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
,
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, across several days in 2000. The crimes, described as ethnically motivated
hate crimes
Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their Physical appearance#Physiological ...
by one columnist,
were covered extensively by the news media, and prompted the passing of new laws. In 2002, the nine men convicted of the gang rapes were sentenced to a total of more than 240 years in jail. According to court transcripts, Judge Michael Finnane described the rapes as events that "you hear about or read about only in the context of wartime atrocities".
Attacks
Further attempted attacks
A further series of gang rapes were said to have been attempted but thwarted. Four of the attackers were also convicted for an attack on Friday 4 August 2000 when they approached a fourteen-year-old girl on a train where she was threatened with violence, punched twice, slapped,
and told that she would be forced to perform fellatio on several men and that she was going to be raped.
Attackers
*
Bilal Skaf led and orchestrated the three August 2000 attacks. He was initially sentenced to a total of 55 years' imprisonment but had his sentence for these attacks reduced by the
New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal
The New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, is the highest court for criminal law, criminal matters and has appellate jurisdiction in the Australian States and territories of Australia, State of Ne ...
to 28 years, with no parole for the first 22 years. However, on 28 July 2006, Acting Justice Jane Mathews added another ten years to his sentence for his role in the 12 August rape. His original conviction over this attack had been quashed in 2004 and a retrial ordered after it was revealed that two jurors had conducted their own investigations at Gosling Park.
Bilal Skaf is eligible for release on parole from 11 February 2033. In March 2003, Skaf was charged with sending mail containing white powder to a corrections department official from prison in an apparent hoax
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
act.
In April 2015, he was attacked by two other inmates in jail and sustained "serious facial injuries".
*Mohammed Skaf, younger brother of Bilal Skaf, was one of the gang rapists. He was sentenced to 32 years for his role in the gang rapes, but also had his sentence reduced on appeal, to 19 years with a non-parole period of 11 years. However, on 28 July 2006, he received an additional 15 years, with a minimum of seven and a half years over the Gosling Park attack. He was then eligible for release on parole from 1 July 2019.
Skaf showed no remorse for his crimes, making sexually inappropriate remarks to female staff at the
Kariong Juvenile Justice Centre where he was incarcerated and continued to blame his victims for initially agreeing to go with him because "they came out with us as soon as I asked them." His parole was denied in February 2020, with The State Parole Authority mentioning that "it appears that he still blames the victims for his offending, has no victim empathy and refuses to take responsibility for his actions". His parole was denied again in November 2020. Mohammed Skaf was released under "strict parole" conditions on 6 October 2021. The release on parole means Skaf can be under "heavy surveillance" for 26 months. He will be monitored electronically for 24 hours a day, and he has also been banned from some areas in Western Sydney.
*Belal Hajeid, then 20, was another gang rapist who was convicted and imprisoned for 23 years with a non-parole period of 15 years. Hajeid later had his sentence reduced on appeal.
*Mohammed Sanoussi, then 18, was a gang rapist who was sentenced to 21 years with a non-parole period of 12 years for the 10 and 30 August rapes. Sanoussi later had his sentence reduced to 16 years on appeal. Shortly after Sanoussi's conviction, his brother and cousin were banned from visiting him in prison for three months after a rowdy clash with staff at the Kariong Juvenile Justice Centre where he was incarcerated. Shouting broke out when staff removed the visitors after they had tried to pass newspaper clippings to the brothers about their sentencing the previous day. Sanoussi remained behind bars when denied parole for a second time in October 2011. Parole applications were rejected on three occasions.
He has been on weekend leave since October 2012 and day leave since April 2013. On 5 September 2013, Sanoussi was granted parole with strict conditions but was not immediately released.
The next day, his parole was revoked.
Upon release, Sanoussi was to live at his family's home. However, late on 5 September it became known that his two brothers, who also lived there and are linked to the "
Brothers for Life" gang, had been charged, with two others, with a violent assault.
The State Parole Authority met and decided that "... the previously approved accommodation was not suitable in light of the new information."
On appeal, Judge Terence Christie conceded that his brother's crimes had nothing to do with Sanoussi and that he should be released. Sanoussi was paroled on 10 October 2013. Among other conditions, he is not to have contact with his two brothers without permission.
*Mahmoud Sanoussi, brother of Mohammed Sanoussi, then 17, was sentenced to 11 years and three months' imprisonment with parole available after six and a half years. He unsuccessfully appealed against his sentence in 2005. He was released on parole in May 2009 but had his parole revoked in March 2010 for his drug use.
*Mahmoud Chami, then 20, was sentenced to 18 years with a non-parole period of ten years. Chami unsuccessfully appealed against his sentence in 2004. He was released to parole in April 2013.
*"H" (Identity sealed: H has had his name suppressed under court order because of his "intellectual and mental disabilities"), then 19, was sentenced to 25 years with a non-parole period of 15 years. 'H' later had his sentence reduced on appeal. A parole hearing was held in October 2013,
and he was released in February 2014 under strict parole conditions.
[Skaf gang rapist to be released]
4 February 2014, News.com.au
*Tayyab Sheikh, then 16, was initially sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of nine years for his role in the 30 August rape. He was retried and sentenced to eight years and six months' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of four years and six months. He was released from prison in late June 2007.
*Mohammed Ghanem, then 19, was the final person to be sentenced and was imprisoned for 40 years with a non-parole period of 26 years for two counts of rape. Ghanem, like his co-offenders Bilal Skaf and Mohammed Skaf, showed no remorse for his actions, effectively opting to "tough it out" at the Kariong Juvenile Justice Centre, where he was detained while awaiting trial.
There was evidence to convict only nine men of the fourteen suspects. The sentences totalled 240 years in prison.
Racial controversy
The conservative commentator
Miranda Devine said the crimes were racially motivated
hate crime
Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their physical appearance or perceived ...
s.
She also asserted that much of the media had attempted to "
airbrush
An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that atomizes and sprays various media, most often paint, but also ink, dye, and make-up. Spray painting developed from the airbrush and is considered to employ a type of airbrush.
History
Up unt ...
" the racial element out of reporting on the crime spree; she quoted a victim that all mention of the overtly racist statements made by the perpetrators had been "censored" from their official statements by prosecutors to avoid complicating attempts to negotiate guilty pleas with the accused.
''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'' reported that the rapists had stated to a victim during the attack, "You deserve it because you're an Australian" and "I'm going to fuck you Leb-style".
New laws
The gang rapes led to the passage of new legislation through the
Parliament of New South Wales
The Parliament of New South Wales, formally the Legislature of New South Wales, (definition of "The Legislature") is the bicameral legislative body of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). It consists of the Monarch, the New South Wa ...
, increasing the sentences for gang rapists by creating a new category of crime known as "aggravated sexual assault in company".
Also, in the course of one of the trials, the defendants refused counsel, as they believed that "all lawyers were against
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
s". This led to the contentious prospect of the defendants being able to cross-examine the witnesses, including the victims, a situation that was averted by further legislation being put through the state parliament.
Actions taken by government ministers, including
Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...
Bob Carr
Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the New South Wales Labor Party, New South Wales branch of the A ...
, who publicly identified the perpetrators' background, led to controversy. Ethnic community group leaders, including
Keysar Trad of the
Lebanese Muslim Association
The Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) is an Australian non-profit welfare Sunni Muslim organisation based in Lakemba, New South Wales, Lakemba, a south-western suburb of Sydney. It is also variously cited as the Lebanese "Moslem", "Moslems" or ...
, complained that Carr was smearing the entire Lebanese Muslim community with the crimes of a few of its members and that his public comments would stir up
ethnic hatred
Ethnic hatred, inter-ethnic hatred, racial hatred, or ethnic tension refers to notions and acts of prejudice and hostility towards an ethnic group to varying degrees.
It is a form of racial prejudice, based on ethnic origin or region of origin ...
.
The first court case heard under the new sentencing regime concerned the
Ashfield gang rapes of girls by
Pakistani
Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...
and
Nepal
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
ese immigrants in
Ashfield on 28 July 2002.
Role of technology in coordination of the attacks
The attackers used
SMS
Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...
and
mobile phone
A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...
s to orchestrate the attack and to phone ahead to other attackers to co-ordinate transport of rape gang members to the locations where women were being held. Authorities later released some of this material, recovered from the rapists' mobile phones.
The attackers texted violent
anti-Christian
Anti-Christian graffiti from the Alexamenos graffito">Alexamenos worships his god.")
Anti-Christian sentiment, also referred to as Christianophobia or Christophobia, is the fear, hatred, discrimination, or prejudice against Christians and/or asp ...
messages, such as, "When you are feeling down...
bash a Christian or
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and lift up".
And as well as
sexually degrading texts like, "I've got a
slut
''Slut (archaic: slattern)'' is an English-language term for a person, usually a woman, who is sexually promiscuous or considered to have loose sexual morals. It is predominately used as an insult, sexual slur or offensive term of disparageme ...
with me bro, come to
Punchbowl".
Skaf gang rape psychologist
In July 2019, it was revealed that Joanne Natalie Senior, a former prison psychologist who was fired for having a relationship with a Skaf gang rapist and who married another member of the notorious child rape gang, was working with children as a school counsellor at
Malek Fahd Islamic School.
[
]
See also
* Ashfield gang rapes
References
External links
"Sentence Slashed: "Gang rapes not 'Worst Category'
"The 'Young Muslim Man' in Australian Public Discourse"
by Kiran Grewal, ''Transforming Cultures eJournal'', Vol.2, No.1, November 2007
*
{{City of Canterbury-Bankstown topics">state=collapsed
City of Canterbury-Bankstown
2000 crimes in Australia
Child sexual abuse in Australia">2000 crimes in Australia">City of Canterbury-Bankstown
2000 crimes in Australia
Child sexual abuse in Australia
Crime in Sydney
Gang rape in Australia
Racially motivated violence against white people
Hate crime
Rape in the 2000s
Racism in Australia
20th century in Sydney
Persecution of Christians by Muslims
2000s in Sydney
Incidents of violence against girls