Search on for girls who escaped beach encounter with rapists
They didn’t know it at the time, but they could have easily become the latest victims of serial rapists terrorising Sydney. Almost 20 years on, The Snitch is searching for the two women who escaped the clutches of the notorious Skaf brothers.
These two teenage girls didn’t realise it at the time but the two young men they encountered at Bondi Beach were members of a gang whose sex crimes shocked Australia.
On the left, trying to lift one girl to her feet, is Mohammed Skaf. Leaning over the other girl is Tayyab Sheikh.
Right after this image was taken, part of a police covert surveillance video taken in October, 2000, the girls, who’d resisted the men’s attempts to lure them away, walked off.
Skaf and Sheik were arrested a few hours later and eventually, along with Skaf’s brother Bilal, convicted of a series of racially tinged gang rapes.
The girls were never heard of again. They weren’t witnesses in the case and according to several sources, it was unlikely they gave a statement to police.
The Snitch has been trying to get in touch with the pair for months and after dozens of unfruitful phone calls, we’re hoping they might contact us.
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MINI RAPTOR LIVES ON
The bikie busting teams that NSW Police sent to clean up Newcastle and Wollongong are set to extend their stay.
Such was the warm welcome for what became known as the mini-Strike Force Raptor teams that they are going to stay indefinitely in an attempt to rid the regional centres of bikie crime.
The door-bashing teams settled in the regional cities last year to tackle local OMCG woes, including a violent Finks v Nomads war in the Hunter Region.
The initial plan was to keep Raptor North and South in the cities for six months.
But police have confirmed their tenures in regional NSW have been extended, after a bit of number shuffling, indefinitely.
COP THIS LOOPHOLE
Can you see what is wrong with this picture? The answer, surprisingly, is nothing.
The Snitch was sent this photo by one of our correspondents who thought they’d caught this officer in the act of driving while on the phone.
Turns out it’s completely legal.
Clause 1(c) of rule 300 of the 2014 Road Rules says police and emergency vehicle drivers can legally talk on the phone while at the wheel.
THE OTHER HURRICANE
NSW Police media sent out an alert on Monday morning stating a man in his 50s had been arrested following a fatal stabbing near
Lake Macquarie.
Eight hours later there was another announcement that set alarm bells ringing: a manhunt was underway for the killer. Huh?
A source tells us police actually arrested the wrong guy after bad information from one of the victim’s associates, who had a gripe with the arrestee.
Officers got as far as taking the handcuffed bloke in his 50s back to Toronto Police Station. He was released after police realised he wasn’t the murderer.
It wasn’t until the next morning that police caught up with the alleged attacker — a 35-year-old man — at a McDonald’s in Belmont.
Got a snitch? Contact
Ava.benny-morrison@news.com.au or Brenden.hills@news.com.au
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