Hadi Skaf eyes tropical change, seeks bail variation after family home shot up

Days after his family home was peppered with bullets, court hears Hadi Skaf wants to move to Queensland, far from his infamous brothers.

The little brother of the Skaf rapists wants to move to Queensland and leave the house with his partner, a court has heard, just days after his family home was peppered with bullets.

Hadi Skaf, 23, appeared in Bankstown Local Court wearing a dark blue hoodie and flanked by his lawyer Mohamad Sakr on Tuesday.

Mr Sakr told the court he needed a one week adjournment to prepare an application to change Hadi Skaf‘s bail conditions that will “allow him to take on opportunity to work in Queensland”.

Hadi Skaf also wants to be able to leave his home with his partner, which would require the court to designate her a “suitable person” under his bail conditions, the court heard.

“My client maintains his innocence,” Mr Sakr told reporters as Hadi Skaf left court on Tuesday.

Pictured outside Bankstown Court today is Hadi Skaf, younger brother of convicted gang rapists Bilal and Mohammad Skaf.

The 23-year-old Skaf was not involved with the infamous gang rapes carried out by his brothers, Bilal and Mohammed, in the year 2000.

Hadi Skaf is on bail because he was arrested, alongside for others, after police allegedly found him with a loaded .32 Fabrique Nationale pistol outside a Bass Hill hotel on October 25.

Hadi Skaf arrives at Bankstown Local Court where his lawyer flagged Skaf wanted to move to Queensland for work. His matter will return next week.

Police charged him with possessing a loaded firearm in public, being carried in a stolen Audi Q7, and with being armed with intent to commit an assault on an unknown person.

The police allege the young Skaf and his co-accused were planning to assault a man rumoured to be involved in kidnapping a jeweller.

Police swooped on Skaf and the other men and arrested them just before they were able to carry out their alleged plot.

Within hours of the men being arrested, one of Skaf‘s co-accused had their home in Merrylands shot up.

The Skaf family home in August 2020. It was hit with bullets this week. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Two men were taken into custody over the alleged drive-by on Bristol Street, Hadi Skaf was not involved.

The Skaf family home on Valencia Street, Greenacre, was hit with multiple bullets on Sunday night.

Hadi Skaf resides there, with his parents, but there was no mention of the shooting or a plan to relocate from the Greenacre home when his matter was briefly heard on Tuesday.

The shooting and screams from frightened women in the street can clearly be heard on CCTV footage.

It’s not clear if Hadi or his brother Mohammed, who was released from jail last year, were inside at the time. Their mother was treated by paramedics at the scene.

On Monday morning, a woman believed to be the boys’ mother Baria Skaf, left the home in a silver vehicle, with her head down and a hood covering her face.

The woman declined to comment as she exited the driveway.

One neighbour who lives further down Valencia Street said he “heard the bangs,” on Sunday night, while another resident at the top of the street said “she had no idea” the shooting had occurred.

Colin Page, who lives directly next door to the home that was fired at, said he had “known the family (living inside the home) for a long while, they were good people, and there had been no trouble in the very quiet home.” There is no obvious damage to the home or surroundings.

“I heard bang bang bang. I didn’t see a car and thought it was just fireworks,” he said.

He said Mohammed Skaf lives at the home: “He can’t go anywhere, he’s got a (ankle) bracelet, he can go that way (up street) and can’t go that way (down the street).”

Another neighbour said they were watching television just before 9pm when they heard what they thought were firecrackers.

“I heard about two or three firecrackers,” the neighbour said.

The front page from the prosecution of the elder Skaf brothers, Mohammed and Bilal.

The resident said they then heard screaming coming from the home and went outside to investigate where they found “a woman wearing a hijab screaming with the phone in her hand”, and the street “lit up” with red and blue lights.

CCTV footage of the street at 8:59pm shows a white car parked outside the residence. The car drives off after three gunshots ring out.

One neighbour said despite the proximity of the shooting they were “not scared” as it was “something they were used to.”

“It’s Greenacre, it was just a shock because it was our street and the gunshots sounded closer,” the neighbour said.

Under his current conditions, Hadi Skaf cannot go within 500 metres of Sydney International Airport, and cannot leave his family home without being accompanied by his mother or father.

Mohammed Skaf, convicted gang rapist, leaves the family home where he lives since being paroled. Hadi Skaf is in no way connected to his brothers’ crimes. Picture: John Grainger

The 23-year-old is banned from owning more than one mobile phone, or using any encrypted smart phone apps like WhatsApp.

The Skaf family name was thrust into the spotlight more than 22 years ago after a gang of nine Lebanese-Australian Muslim youths – led by 18-year-old Bilal Skaf – went on a rape rampage across the city targeting young, non-Muslim girls.

The attacks were so degrading and demeaning the judge described them as “worse than murder”.

Bilal Skaf’s initial jail sentence of 55 years – the longest non-life sentence ever handed out in NSW – was revised down to 31 years on appeal

Mohammed was controversially released on parole in October 2021 at the age of 38.