WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT: One of Australia's worst gang rapists is about to be released to live in a home around the corner from the scene of one of his sickening crimes. Here's why the appalling attacks remain a stain on the country 21 years later
- Notorious Sydney gang rapist Mohammed Skaf is set to leave prison next month
- Skaf, 38, spent two decades in prison after committing a series of rapes in 2000
- His brother Bilal, now 40, is still behind bars and cannot be released before 2033
- Sentencing judge Michael Finnane described their crimes as worse than murder
- Mohammed Skaf will live within 2km of two parks where the gang raped women
The imminent release on parole of notorious pack rapist Mohammed Skaf has been a disturbing reminder of a series of horrifying crimes that shocked the nation 21 years ago
The imminent release on parole of notorious pack rapist Mohammed Skaf has been a disturbing reminder of a series of horrifying crimes that shocked the nation 21 years ago.
Mohammed Skaf and his older brother Bilal were the leaders of a month-long rampage in which six victims were raped by more than a dozen young Lebanese-Australian men.
Few crimes in recent Australian history have stirred more community anger than the campaign of terror waged by the Skaf gang across south-western Sydney in 2000.
One 18-year-old woman was raped 25 times by 14 men over six hours in an attack coordinated by mobile phone. She was then dumped at a train station after being hosed down.
During her ordeal the woman was called an 'Aussie pig', told by Mohammed Skaf 'I'm going to f*** you Leb style' and asked if 'Leb c*** tasted better than Aussie c***'.
The Skaf brothers denied their roles in the rapes, treated their trials as a joke and continued to show no remorse once behind bars.
Original sentencing judge Michael Finnane called their crimes 'worse than murder', comparing the depravity to outrages committed by invading armies in times of war.
Bilal Skaf is still in jail and will not be released before 2033 but Mohammed was granted parole on September 17 and will return next month to live with his parents at Greenacre.
Mohammed Skaf (pictured) and his older brother Bilal were the leaders of a month-long rampage in which six victims were raped by more than a dozen young Lebanese-Australian men
Bilal Skaf is still in jail and will not be released by 2033 but Mohammed (pictured) was granted parole on September 17 and will return next month to live with his parents at Greenacre
A still from NSW Police surveillance video taken on October 7, 2000, shows Skaf gang members at Bondi Beach. Not every gang member was involved in every attack
Two of the parks where the Skaf gang defiled and degraded their teenage victims are 750m and 1.7km from that family home.
Mohammed was 17 at the time of the rapes and is now 38. Bilal was almost 19 back then and is now 40. This is what they did in the weeks leading up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics:
The first attack occurred on August 10 when two Year 12 students aged 17 and 18 met a group of eight males including Bilal Skaf at Chatswood shopping centre.
The girls were offered marijuana and a lift home in a white van with four of the males including Skaf, as four others followed in a red car.
Both car loads of males and the two girls headed to Northcote Park, Greenacre, where Skaf asked 'Ms A' to give him 'a head job'.
Skaf told Ms A she should do what he wanted and that when the red car arrived its occupants would probably bash her if she did not comply with their demands.
The Skaf family home is about 1.7km from Gosling Park (above) where one of the Skaf gang's pack rapes occurred on August 12, 2000. Mohammed lured a 16-year-old girl to the park where Bilal and another gang member raped her while a dozen others stood around laughing
The gang, led by Bilal Skaf, took two teenagers aged 17 and 18 to a toilet block at Northcote Park, Greenacre, where they were raped by eight men on August 10, 2000. The park, which is 750m from the Skaf family home, is pictured
Ms A was forced to give Skaf oral sex in the van but was interrupted when the red car turned up. She left the van but was tackled by one of the men and thrown into bushes, forced to resume oral sex on Skaf and to do the same to four other men.
Six men then stood around Ms B in front of a toilet block, all saying 'give me a head job'. She was forced to perform oral sex on Skaf and another man, and slapped across the face.
The girls were beaten and raped by eight men for two hours. After the men abandoned the girls a passing car pulled up and the occupants called police.
Two days later, on August 12, a 16-year-old girl received a phone call from Mohammed Skaf. She had met Skaf about Christmas 1999, gave him her phone number and knew him as 'Sam'.
Skaf invited the girl to go for a drive in the city and he picked her up from her home. He was in the back of a red car, with a man named Michael in the driver's seat, and a man Skaf introduced as Ibrahim in the front.
Bilal Skaf led a gang of young Lebanese-Australian males on a pack rape spree across Sydney's south west in 2000. He is pictured outside the NSW Supreme Court in July 2006
During the drive Skaf and Ibrahim made a number of phone calls in Arabic and about 30 minutes after leaving the girl's home they arrived at Gosling Park, Greenacre.
Skaf said he had to meet a man who owed him $600. While Michael and Ibrahim supposedly went looking for that man Skaf started to rub the girl's leg, which she told him to stop.
When Michael and Ibrahim returned Ibrahim began touching the girl and tried to convince her to have sex with him but she got out of the car.
The girl told Skaf: 'I know what's going on Sam, do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I'm dumb?'.
As Skaf and Ibrahim argued the girl said, 'Fine, well I'm walking home. You're not leaving me with these people.' Skaf replied: 'This is a dangerous area, you never know what will happen. Stay here until I get back.'
Skaf walked away towards a soccer game being played under lights and Ibrahim sat with the girl in the back of the red car.
A white van pulled up and eight males alighted. Then a blue care arrived and three more males got out.
On August 12, 2000 a 16-year-old girl received a phone call from Mohammed Skaf who invited her for a drive in the city. Once in his car Skaf made a number of phone calls in Arabic and about 30 minutes after leaving the girl's home they arrived at Gosling Park, Greenacre
The van's driver, Bilal Skaf, told the girl he was 'Sam's' older brother and repeatedly asked her to go for a walk but she kept saying no.
Bilal then grabbed the girl by the hair and said something like, 'Allah boys, Alley.' The other ten grabbed her by the arms and dragged her onto a field behind a building.
As the girl cried and screamed Bilal told her she would be bashed by all the men if she did not shut up.
Men were standing all around the girl. She had her arms held down and her legs held back as Bilal raped her on the ground. As the girl cried the men laughed and spoke in Arabic.
Another male came over saying, 'Now it's my turn'. He raped the girl while she was pinned down and Bilal did up his pants.
When that attacker got off the girl another male came up behind her and held a gun to her head.
That man said if the girl told anyone about what had happened she would be killed. She was kicked in the stomach as the other males stood around laughing.
The first attack occurred on August 10 when two Year 12 students aged 17 and 18 met a group of eight males including Bilal Skaf at Chatswood shopping centre. The girls were taken to Northcote Park, Greenacre, where they were raped
As the girl started running away, chased by some of the gang, one of her attackers tried to get her into the van. ''Jump in, there's a mattress inside,' he told her.
She was saved only when a passerby arrived on the scene and took her to his flat. While there, Ibrahim called her and Mohammed Skaf said, 'What's going on? Where are you? We'll come pick you up now and we will take you home.'
Two days later the girl received a text from Mohammed: 'HEY SEXC HOW R U LOOK IM VERY SORY ABOUT WAT HAPEND THE OTHER DAY I GOT INTO A PUNCH UP WITH THEM CAUS OF WAT THEY DONE TO U SO PLZ REPLY BACK 2 ME HUM.'
The girl also received calls from unidentified males repeating her address and warning if she went to police she or her family would be killed.
The most notorious of the Skaf gang's attacks took place on August 30 and started with an 18-year-old woman boarding a train at Belmore.
The woman, known as 'Ms C', was reading The Great Gatsby when she was joined on the train by a group of five males including Mohammed Skaf, two brothers and a youth called 'H'.
Gang rapist Bilal Skaf pictured in Goulburn's Supermax prison with his mother who was banned by prison authorities after she smuggled letters from her son out of the jail
The group persuaded Ms C to accompany the men to Bankstown where they left the train and went to the nearby Marion Street carpark.
Skaf, having taken Ms C's mobile phone, ordered her into a toilet cubicle and told her: 'You won't get your phone back until you f*** me.'
When Ms C refused Skaf said, 'I'm going to f*** you Leb style', turned her around and raped her against a wall.
Ms C was then forced to remain in the cubicle and subjected to sexual assaults by other men.
Once free from the toilets Ms C got into a black car containing H and two others she had not previously seen. She thought she was being taken to police but was driven to the Bankstown Trotting Club.
H sexually assaulted Ms C near a shed in the club's deserted carpark before the driver of the black car reappeared and said he would take her to home.
Once in the car the driver raped her and a passenger forced her into oral sex.
Mohammed Skaf took a 16-year-old friend to his brother and other gang members at Gosling Park (pictured) at Greenacre. Bilal Skaf and another male raped the girl in front of 12 men
A red car arrived and the driver and passenger from the black car had a conversation with its occupants. The black car's driver then let Ms C out of the vehicle, saying, 'You're going with these guys. They're going to take you home.'
Ms C Got into the back of the red car and sat between Bilal Skaf and another man. The car was driven to a townhouse complex, then a service station and finally to an industrial estate at Chullora.
During the course of that journey, further sexual assaults were committed by Skaf and the other gang member. Ms C was threatened with a weapon and told, 'Don't move bitch, or you're dead'.
At the industrial complex Ms C was raped in the car while Bilal Skaf and another man kept the doors close.
Ms C would later tell a court that throughout the rapes she heard mobile phones ringing. Others joined in further sexual attacks including Bilal Skaf.
Another car arrived carrying four males, including Mohammed Skaf. Ms C was released from the red car and a hose was turned on her before she was sexually assaulted again.
An artist's impression of Mohammed Skaf at a hearing before the State Parole Authority in February. The SPA determined freeing Mohammed at the end of his 23-year sentence in early 2024 without any conditions would have posed an unacceptable risk to society
During her ordeal Ms C was called an 'Aussie pig and asked if 'Leb c***. tasted better than Aussie c***'. She had been raped 25 times by 14 men over six hours.
Ms C was eventually driven to Lidcombe train station in the black vehicle and released. She reported the rapes to police the next day.
There was a final attack on September 4 when the gang approached two 16-year-old girls at Beverly train station and took them to a house at Lakemba.
On of the girls was told 'You deserve it because you're an Australian' as they were both raped by three men over five hours.
Nine men including Mohammed and Bilal Skaf were originally sentenced to a combined 240 years for the rapes but at least five other offenders were never caught.
Skaf gang rape rampage: A timeline
Bilal Skaf (pictured) was the leader of a gang of pack rapists who rampaged across Sydney in the weeks leading up to the 2000 Olympics
August 10, 2000: Two teenagers aged 17 and 18 were offered drugs. They were taken by car to the gang, who were waiting at Northcote Park in Greenacre. The pair was forced to perform sex acts on eight men.
August 12, 2000: Mohammed Skaf took a 16-year-old friend to his brother and other gang members at Gosling Park, Greenacre. Bilal Skaf and another male raped the girl in front of 12 men.
August 30, 2000: An 18-year-old woman was raped at Bankstown by Mohammed Skaf who told her he was going to 'f**k her Leb style'. She was taken to two other locations and raped and assaulted by 14 men for six hours.
September 4, 2000: Two 16-year-old girls were taken from Beverly Hills train station to a home where they were repeatedly raped by three men over a five-hour period.
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