Teenage rapist Mohammed Skaf walks free from prison

Gang rapist Mohammed Skaf walks free from prison with a threat from NSW’s Police Minister: ‘If he so much as kicks a cat he will be sent back to jail’.

Mohammed Skaf is released from Sydney’s Long Bay jail on Wednesday. Picture Dylan Coker

Notorious gang rapist Mohammed Skaf walked free from Long Bay jail on Wednesday morning, released on parole but with an explicit threat from NSW Police Minister David Elliott ringing in his ears: “If he so much as kicks a cat he will be sent back to jail.”

After serving almost 22 years for a series of rapes that horrified the nation, Skaf was released only because day-leave programs have been abandoned due to Covid-19.

Dressed in a Hugo Boss designer sweatshirt and wearing a grey electronic tracking bracelet strapped to his ankle, Skaf, 38, was met with hugs and cheers at his family home in Greenacre in southwest Sydney, where he will live in his parents’ granny flat.

He will be subject to some of the strictest parole conditions the state has ever seen.

Skaf was locked up at the age of 17 after he and a group of young men, led by his older brother Bilal Skaf, brutally sexually assaulted numerous women across Sydney.

The crimes cast a dark pall over a city that had been joyously anticipating the arrival of the 2000 Olympic Games.

One woman was raped 25 times by as many as 14 males, who called her an “Aussie pig” during her horrific six-hour ordeal.

Over a four-week period, the gang of Lebanese-Australian youths went hunting for Australian girls, subjecting them to acts so degrading the judge described them as “worse than murder”.

The first victim was just 14. She was approached by four men on a train, and was then punched and slapped and threatened with rape but managed to break free and run.

There was no lucky escape for the victims to follow.

Two girls on a late-night shopping trip were approached by eight men, including Bilal Skaf, and lured to a toilet block, where they were beaten and forced to perform oral sex on each of the men over a period of two hours.

Just two days later, Mohammed Skaf convinced a 16-year-old girl – a friend – to join him in a park. The victim was raped by Bilal as his mates watched and laughed.

Two weeks later, an 18-year-old on her way home on the train was taken to another toilet block and raped by four men. Afterwards she was driven to the Bankstown Trotting Club and again gang raped, while being told she was getting it “Leb style”.

After yet another rape by another gang of youths at an empty industrial complex in Chullora in Sydney’s west, she was hosed down and dumped at a rail station.

On September 1, the gang committed its last crime, taking two 16-year-old girls to a house in Lakemba, where they were raped by three men over a period of four hours. One of the victims was told: “You deserve it because you’re an Australian.”

After two decades, Skaf has shown no remorse – even blaming his helpless victims for the series of rapes that shocked the nation.

He first became eligible for parole in 2018 but was denied on three occasions. Last month, the State Parole Authority heard there was little choice as the end of his jail sentence loomed.

Authorities decided it was better to release him on parole, which allows him to be closely monitored, than wait for the end of his sentence in just over two years time in January 2024.

Skaf will be electronically monitored 24/7 and must comply with ongoing psychological intervention. He is not allowed to contact his victims or co-offenders, and he can’t enter the Liverpool, Fairfield, Blacktown or Parramatta LGAs.

Mohammed Skaf will be under strict parole conditions. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

He first became eligible for parole in 2018 but was denied on three occasions. Last month, the State Parole Authority heard there was little choice as the end of his jail sentence loomed.

Authorities decided it was better to release him on parole, which allows him to be closely monitored, than wait for the end of his sentence in just over two years time in January 2024.

Skaf will be electronically monitored 24/7 and must comply with ongoing psychological intervention. He is not allowed to contact his victims or co-offenders, and he can’t enter the Liverpool, Fairfield, Blacktown or Parramatta LGAs.

Any breach of the conditions of the Child Protection Register would result in his immediate return to prison.

State Parole Authority chair Judge David Frearson said granting Skaf parole was the only option because reintegrating him into society via “external leave” – such as for work or community service – was not possible due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

In 2000, as a District Court judge, Michael Finnane QC jailed Skaf for 32 years and older brother Bilal, who was then 19, for 55 years. He supported Skaf’s release, saying the parole conditions permitted authorities to monitor his movements closely.

“He has to be released at some (point) and it is better that he is released under strict supervision for some time,” Mr Finnane said.

“All the Skaf gang members have been released, except Bilal. With one exception, to my knowledge, all have settled back into the community. I hope Mohammed Skaf does too.”

However, NSW opposition legal affairs spokesman Michael Daley said Skaf’s release was an “epic fail” by the government, which “knew about Skaf’s impending release for many weeks”.

“I had invited (then) premier Gladys Berejiklian and Attorney-General Mark Speakman on more than one occasion publicly to stop this guy from being ¬released, and none did,” he said.

“That is not just a fail, it’s an epic fail now that Perrottet is premier,” Mr Daley added

Skaf was initially handed a 31-year jail term, but his sentence was slashed to 22 years, 11 months and 30 days on appeal. His jail term is set to expire in 2024.

Bilal is serving 38 years with a non-parole period of 32 after his sentence was also cut on appeal.