Sydney rape survivor’s terrifying ordeal: ‘He said he “loved seeing fear in people”’

Exclusive: A Sydney belly dancer who was one of five victims of a serial rapist has revealed what happened during the worst night of her life.

Australian-Lebanese woman Taliah Wolf is an internationally renowned belly dancer.

WARNING: Graphic.

Exclusive

A Sydney belly dancer who was one of five victims of a serial rapist has revealed for the first time what happened during the worst night of her life.

In an exclusive interview with news.com.au, Taliah Wolf, 28, waived her right to anonymity “to help other girls in a similar situation” now that her attacker has been convicted. The man, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was found guilty in September on 13 counts of aggravated sexual assault against five women and a string of other charges including multiple counts of detaining a person and armed robbery, in the NSW District Court at Sydney’s Downing Centre.

Ms Wolf is an internationally renowned “Lebanese transgender beauty pageant queen” who spoke on the condition she was only identified be her stage name. In early 2016, she was crowned the winner of several pageant titles including Miss International Australia and Ms Mardi Gras International Queen.

It was a period in her life when all her dreams were coming true. Until, just weeks later, she unwittingly crossed paths with a serial rapist in her hometown of Sydney.

Ms Wolf and the man met online before he arrived to meet her for the first time at a Meriton apartment complex in Parramatta, on May 7, 2016. But once he was inside the apartment, the situation quickly spiralled out of control.

Taliah Wolf was one of several women raped by a man who has since been convicted of the crimes.

Ms Wolf is an internationally renowned belly dancer.

The serial rapist was caught on CCTV following another one of his victims, a 22-year-old woman, out of a lift in a Sydney apartment before barging into the room and attacking her.

The court heard that moments after walking in the door, the man played a video on his phone to Ms Wolf, which contained footage of him engaged in sexual acts with a “blonde, white woman” who he “slapped around” then “kicked off the bed”.

“She wasn’t consenting and I said, ‘Why do you do this to girls?’ Ms Wolf told news.com.au.

“He said he ‘loved seeing the fear in people when they can’t do anything about it’.

“I knew something wasn’t right and started feeling the fear myself and thinking, ‘What’s he going to do to me?’

“I didn’t even know if other girls had been killed. I kept thinking, ‘Is that blonde girl alive or dead? What did he do to her? Is he going to kill me because I’m trans?’”

Ms Wolf said he then started “ripping (her) clothes off and threw (her) on the bed” before “sucking on (her) neck”.

“I knew he was going to do something I just didn’t know what,” she said.

“When you’re in a situation where this huge guy is on your bed … He’s on drugs. He’s saying s**t … you know you can’t go anywhere … you’re like, ‘OK I’m going to die’.”

Ms Wolf won several beauty pageant titles just weeks before her world came crashing down.

The man was “very aggressive” and “dominant” to the point Ms Wolf was unable to safely get away from him. Panic set in as she prepared herself for the worst.

Ms Wolf told the court that the man repeatedly called her a “slut” and other “degrading things” before he “beat” her then “spat” in her eye. In an emotional testimony, she told the jury that he had restrained her with his hands before brutally raping her.

“It’s not easy having this thing inside you while in so much pain,” she said.

“I was horrified because I’d never been in that situation before. I was shaking (and) scared.

“I had to fight for my life.”

‘I COULD SEE MYSELF GOING SPLAT’

A “billion thoughts” raced through her mind as the man then ordered her onto the balcony.

“He wanted me on the edge of the railing (and) I wondered if I was going to end up off a balcony,” she told news.com.au.

“He came and grabbed my hand and said, ‘When I tell you to do something you f***ing do it, don’t aggravate me’. I was panicking.”

Ms Wolf said she started thinking about her mother who she believed was “going to lose her child”.

“I was thinking ‘she’s not supposed to see me go’,” Ms Wolf said.

“I just looked down and kept thinking of me splat on that ground and was thinking ‘Oh my God, am I going to be one of those people?’”

Ms Wolf told news.com.au the sex attack changed her.

As she stood nervously on the balcony, the man quizzed Ms Wolf as to whether or not she thought he was handsome.

“I could see myself going splat so I said ‘yes’,” she told news.com.au.

“I pinky promised him that I would be his girlfriend.”

Ms Wolf said she sensed she was “going to end up completely demolished” as it dawned on her that “nobody was going to come for (her)”.

“He showed absolutely no remorse or empathy,” she said.

“There was just nothing. If he could have kept me there all night and destroyed me I believe he would have done it.”

In that moment, a loud, unexplained bang from outside rattled the man who had already been showing signs of paranoia. Ms Wolf said she was able to then convince him that people she knew were coming. It worked and Ms Wolf was eventually able to get away. But not unscathed.

‘I FELT LIKE I WAS IN A HORROR MOVIE’

For Ms Wolf, and the man’s other victims, the scars from their encounters with him run deep. Ms Wolf told news.com.au she was still coming to terms to with the ordeal which she described as “feeling like I was in a horror movie and I was going to die”.

According to her, she always had a dominant personality and was used to feeling in control, prior to the attack.

“I was like, ‘No one can stop me, no one can dare touch me’,” she said.

“For him to have broken that. I was like: ‘Wow, I’m weak.’

“I thought I was a stronger person but what I went through was pretty hard.”

Ms Wolf thought she was “going to die” during the attack.

The transgender entertainer said she used to be “the biggest guy” who would walk through a group of men trying to intimidate her and “look all of them in the eye”. But her confidence has significantly waned.

“Being in a room with a guy where he can do anything he wanted to me and I had no choice, I’m now like, ‘How do I know this other guy isn’t going to do that?’” she said.

“There is no way in hell you could put me in a room with a guy and me be OK with it. I don’t trust any man anymore.

“Even when a guy asks if I want a drink, I think, ‘Is he the one who’s going to kill me tonight?’

“I’m more scared and cautious now because the feeling he put in me — that torment and torture I felt — I never want to feel that again.”

Ms Wolf’s rapist was arrested in June 2016 and charged over a sexual assault and robbery of another woman that month. He was later convicted on further counts of aggravated sexual assault, and a string of other charges including assault occasioning actual bodily harm and using a carriage service to threaten.

“I wish him life living like a dog in the kennel,” Ms Wolf told news.com.au.

“To feel like my last breath was going to be taken in his hands, I wish him everything he did to us to happen to him.”

The man will return to court for sentencing next year.

If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or sexual assault, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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