Accounts of Skaf brothers’ rape victims still chilling 21 years on

They were two ordinary girls — until they crossed the path of Bilal Skaf and his gang of rapists. As Skaf’s younger brother Mohammed was released on parole this week, we take a look back at their stories.

I met two of the Skaf brothers’ victims on a chilly winter’s day in 2002 — Miss D and Miss C.

Both girls came forward to put their rapists behind bars. I never threw out the transcripts of their interviews and re-reading them two decades later is as harrowing as it was back then.

Bilal Skaf’s gang of rapists terrorised Sydney’s southwest in the winter of 2000 and cast a dark shadow on a city that was preparing for the Olympics.

Miss D was just 16 at the time when she was lured into a trap by a boy she thought was her friend. They were going to take a drive to the city and Miss D even asked her mum for permission.

“I didn’t think I was in danger, I thought I could trust him,” she told me.

That friend was Mohammed Skaf, the younger brother of Bilal. Mohammed will be released from prison on parole next month.

In 2000, he took Miss D to Gosling Park in Greenacre where his big brother Bilal was waiting with 12 other boys. She was raped by Bilal Skaf and another man.

“It was vile and it was just amazing that no one said no, this is wrong, they just followed each other like sheep,” she said.

Miss D and Miss C came forward to face their rapists. Picture: Brad Newman

One of the victims leaving court after the sentence was handed down. Picture: Chris Hyde

In the one moment no one was holding her down, she got up the courage to run for her life.

“I just thought if I didn’t run it was just going to keep happening and I may not see my family again,” Miss D said.

“I’d talked myself into thinking it was all over and I suppose I just wanted to live and I just wanted to run and I have never run so fast.”

Gosling Park in Greenacre where Miss D was raped by Bilal Skaf and another man.

Just 18 days after this horrific attack on Miss D, a five men approached Miss C, then 18, as she was heading home on the train.

She accepted an offer to go and share a joint. The CCTV footage at the train station showed her being surrounded but she thought they were friendly. She was about to endure six hours of terror.

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Four men, including Mohammed Skaf, raped Miss C in a toilet block in Bankstown.

Mohammed Skaf will be released on parole.

Convicted rapist Bilal Skaf.

But the horror did not end there as she was then taken to other destinations.

“After the first four in the toilet block, one of the people who hadn’t assaulted me gave me the impression he thought it was wrong and I believed him and he was saying I’m going to get you help,” she said.

“I trusted him and then he and two guys in the car ended up doing it to me, too, and then another car turns up.

“They said they were going to take me home. I remember them encouraging, like yelling and just laughing and encouraging others.

“At one point I was being raped in a car and others were rocking and shaking the car and laughing and acting as if it was a big joke.”

Mohammed Skaf (left) tried and failed to entice these girls off the beach.

Miss C was then taken an industrial estate in Chullora, where she was again raped by 14 men, a total of 20 times, including Bilal Skaf. A gun was held to her head.

“I remember feeling the metal on the top of my head and just thinking it was either die fighting, or just let them,” she said.

“I was just so helpless and could not do anything to save myself, I never stood a chance against these people. Could see what was happening to me, I could hear it and smell it, but I was just so helpless.”

When the gang finished their grotesque attack, Miss C, shivering and naked on that August night, had a hose turned on her in a pathetic and humiliating attempt to hide evidence of their attack.

Both brave women came forward to put these animals behind bars.

Detective Inspector Kim McKay was in charge of the gang rape task force at the time.

“The majority of offences occurred within the month of August (2000) and it was the frequency that really caught us by surprise. All up the investigation looked at 11 victims and we ended up arresting 18 offenders,” she said.

Mohammed Skaf’s mugshot.

Bilal Skaf’s mugshot.

The use of mobile phones would be the undoing of the gang as they sent messages to each other to join in on the rapes.

“I’ve got a slut, come over bro” was one such message.

“It left a trail for us to follow,” she said. “The bravery of the women involved is astronomical. When you think they not only had to undergo this particularly horrendous ordeal, it didn’t end there for them.

“If they wanted to get convictions for these guys they had to go to court and go through it all again.”

Ringleader Bilal Skaf is still in jail.

Both Miss D and Miss C endured death threats not to talk, then they endured defence lawyers suggesting they enjoyed the attacks, and “moaned” in pleasure.

Neither were intimidated.

“All I could think was if they did it to me, they could do it to anyone,” Miss C said.

“I figured they had done their worst and I’ll never go through something as horrific again in my life. The only thing worse is they could have killed me and, at the time, I thought that wouldn’t have been a bad thing.”

Both women hoped the men would get life in prison.

“I hope they get as long as what I am going to get, it’s a life sentence,” Miss D said.

“Anything lesser is laughable.”

Many of their rapists are now out, having served their time.

Mohammed Skaf will soon join them on parole next month.

These two brave women, now in their 30s, are no doubt reliving the horror. But I will never forget their bravery in coming forward to make our streets safer.

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