Rapist nameless no longer By Sarah Crichton and Andrew Stevenson September 7 2002 "This isn't real" ... Skaf and his fiancee. All along Bilal Skaf's fiancee has protested his innocence. Now she must live with the consequences of the world knowing the identity of the man she loves. "I'm terrified," she said, as she fled the courtroom in which a judge revealed Skaf - sentenced to 55 years' jail a fortnight ago - as the ringleader of Sydney's notorious rape gang. "It's a nightmare ... you wake up in the morning and you think 'this isn't real'. How can he be the talk of the nation? It's wrong - this isn't the Bill I know." The identities of the ringleader of the gang and three of his henchmen were revealed after it was argued the move would lift a general slur on the Australian Lebanese community. The leader of the gang responsible for three attacks on four women in August 2000 was known as X throughout four trials conducted late last year and this year. He also went by the false name of Adam Newland. From the moment he was arrested until he was sentenced, Skaf has scoffed at police and mocked court proceedings. Three of the other gang members were also named by Judge Michael Finnane. They were: Mohammed Sanoussi, now 18, his younger brother Mahmoud Sanoussi, now 17, and Tayyab Sheikh, 18. The Crown prosecutor, Margaret Cunneen, asked for the suppression order to be lifted so that the Australian Lebanese Community would not remain under a cloud. Not naming the rapists would only perpetuate racial discrimination, encouraging "a fear and distrust of everyone of that ethnic origin, instead of focusing on the specific offenders". Five gang members are still at large and she argued that publishing the names of those convicted may lead to further arrests. "Shielding these offenders with the cloak of anonymity also shields those who, as at this moment, have got away scot-free," she said. Judge Finnane said it would be wrong for any member of the public to condemn the rapists' families, citing sociological studies that suggest gang members are more influenced by their criminal associates than by their families. Amid extraordinary scenes earlier in the day, the judge initially opted to lift the suppression order on one of the rapists, then revoked his ruling as a lawyer attempted a last-ditch appeal. Media organisations, represented by Guy Reynolds, SC, argued that the interests of justice would be best served by naming the rapists. Mohammed Sanoussi was sentenced yesterday to a maximum 21 years and three months' jail for his part in the abduction and rape of two 16-year-olds taken from Chatswood to Greenacre on August 10, 2000 and a six-hour assault 20 days later on an 18-year-old taken from a train in Bankstown and raped at three sites. He will be eligible for parole in June 2012 after serving 12 years. His younger brother, Mahmoud, was sentenced to 11 years and three months and must serve a minimum of 6 years. Sentencing the pair, the judge ordered that they both be entitled to serve their time until age 21 in a juvenile justice institution and that the brothers should spend their custodial sentences in the same prison. The court heard the elder Sanoussi had been the butt of bullying all his life. "It is sad that [he], himself the target of bullies throughout his life, should choose to engage in gang rape, which is a particularly vicious and cruel form of bullying," the judge said. Sheikh was sentenced to a maximum 15 years with a nine-year minimum for the rape and abduction of the 18-year-old on August 30 because, while he had shown no contrition, there was some prospect of rehabilitation, the judge said. But the court heard Sheikh, who led Friday prayers among Muslim inmates in the Kariong juvenile centre, recently told a pyschiatrist that his victim was "not a slut or prostitute, but a fun type of girl who would have sex with guys and take drugs". Outside the court, one of the victims said: "They needed to be named and the community needs to know who they are." Printer friendly version Email to a friend text | handheld (how to) membership | conditions | privacy Copyright © 2002. The Sydney Morning Herald. advertise | contact us