Sydney Gang Rapes - Attackers

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 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 act.
• 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. Mohammed Skaf will now be 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 facility 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."
• Belal Hajeid, then aged 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, 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 remains behind bars after being denied parole for a second time in October, 2011.
• Mahmoud Sanoussi, brother of Mohammed Sanoussi, then aged 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 due to his drug use.
• Mahmoud Chami, then 20, attacker sentenced to 18 years with a non-parole period of ten years. Chami unsuccessfully appealed against his sentence in 2004. Chami is eligible for released on parole in December 2012.
• "H" (Identity sealed: H has had his name suppressed under court order due to 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.
• "T", 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. Sentences totaled 240 years in prison.