Crimes
Their crimes are similar to the Sydney gang rapes by Lebanese-Australian men led by Bilal Skaf. One of the victims alleged that the rapists referred to the Lebanese rapes during the crime. Many of the crimes were videotaped by the perpetrators; the tapes were used as evidence in the trial.
The crimes were, in chronological order:
| Day | Month | Year | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | January | 2002 | Two sisters, 18 and 16, are taken to one of the brother's Ashfield house. MAK indecently assaults the younger one, but she manages to fight him off. MRK robs her. |
| 14 | February | Three girls are picked up by MMK and MAK and taken to the house, where they are supplied with alcohol. Tegan Wagner, 14, is repeatedly raped by MSK and MAK in one of the bedrooms while her friends are in the lounge room. She alleged MMK also raped her and hit her when she tried to fight him off. | |
| July | A 13-year-old girl, Cassie, has non-coerced, though legally non-consensual sex with MMK. MSK then rapes her twice, followed by Shrestha. | ||
| 28 | Two girls, aged 16 and 17, are lured, threatened at knifepoint and sexually assaulted at the Ashfield house by the five rapists. One of the victims was told that the other had been killed because she had resisted orders.
These are the first girls to come forward, sparking the police investigation against the rapists. |
MMK is also alleged to have indecently assaulted a 15-year-old girl, Y, in November 2001, but she did not wish to go to trial. On 12 May 2002, he allegedly indecently assaulted two other girls whom police cannot locate, molesting them while he videotaped them.
The four brothers were sentenced to a total of 70 years imprisonment over the July 28 rapes. In late 2004 three of the brothers involved in the rape appealed against their sentences, but their appeals were rejected in November 2005. The fourth brother is continuing his sentence while the fifth rapist, Ram Shrestha, committed suicide.
In April 2006 the New South Wales Supreme Court increased the sentences of three of the brothers. Justice Peter Hidden added a minimum of five years to MSK's sentence and a minimum two extra years to MAK's jail term for the February and July 14 rapes. Their younger brother, MMK, was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, to be served concurrently and in juvenile detention, for having consensual sex with an underage girl on the night of one of the rapes, as well as for an indecent assault in November 2001.
In October 2007 it was reported that three of the brothers were facing further rape charges. In March 2009 MRK pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault on a 15-year-old girl in 2002; he is due to be sentenced on 20 March 2009.
Read more about this topic: Ashfield Gang Rapes
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—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
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