The younger brother of notorious gang rapists Bilal and Mohammed Skaf suffered a ‘flash of the switch’ while spent four months behind bars on remand, a court has been told.
Hadi Skaf, 25, was found guilty in Sydney’s Burwood Local Court earlier this year of driving a stolen vehicle and using a tracking device to find an object without consent.
Skaf was arrested in 2022 outside the WM Hotel in Bankstown after driving to the scene in what the court heard earlier this year was a stolen Audi Q7 SUV.
On Wednesday, the court was told that Magistrate Glenn Bartley found Skaf had met with a group of men “for the purpose of some form of criminal activity against the victim”.
“The precise activity is unknown. They were acting in concert with the aim of carrying out some kind of criminal activity,” police prosecutor Hazel Pais told the court.
Ms Pais said Skaf had been the driver of the car and the tracking device had been used to monitor the victim, known as AA, for five days until his arrest.
In her submissions, Ms Pais said Skaf had failed to provide evidence of alleged mental health issues or remorse, having previously stated he was unaware the car had been stolen.
These claims were disputed by Skaf’s defence lawyer, Oussama Elfawal, who told the court that the sentencing assessment report was unclear about his remorse.
Hadi Skaf (pictured), the younger brother of notorious gang rapists Bilal and Mohammed Skaf, had a ‘flip-the-switch’ while behind bars for four months on remand, a court has been told.
“Your Honour has information at your disposal which allows you to suggest that Mr Skaf has made a positive turn in his life. He has not committed any further offences and has been attending TAFE,” Elfawal said.
‘My final argument is that the court cannot be satisfied, one way or the other (from the sentencing report), whether he did or did not take responsibility for his actions.
“The reality is that this young man, prior to these charges, had never served a full-time prison sentence. When he did, a switch was flipped and there was no further offending.”
Sentencing, Mr Bartley said he rejected any claim that there had been a “change of attitude” by Skaf while he was in prison and that “the length of time the offender has been in prison is an excuse”.
“He (Skaf) claimed he was helping a friend and he didn’t expect what was happening. That’s not credible. That’s consistent with previous cases,” Bartley said.
Mohammed Skaf (pictured) is one of Australia’s most infamous convicted rapists.
Skaf was re-sentenced and found guilty of previous charges dating back to 2020 for driving with an illicit drug and a single charge of supplying a prohibited drug.
For these matters, he received a 12-month conditional discharge order and an intensive correction order respectively, as well as a six-month driving ban.
For the most recent charges, Mr. Bartley ordered Skaf to serve two concurrent probation orders and to complete substance abuse and mental health therapy.
Skaf had no involvement in the crimes of his older brothers.
Skaf gang rape rampage: a timeline
Bilal Skaf (pictured) was the leader of a gang of rapists who rampaged through Sydney in the weeks leading up to the 2000 Olympics.
August 10, 2000: Two teenagers aged 17 and 18 were offered drugs and driven to the gang, who were waiting for them at Northcote Park in Greenacre. The pair were forced to perform sexual acts with eight men.
August 12, 2000: Mohammed Skaf took a 16-year-old friend to Gosling Park, Greenacre, where his brother and other gang members were. Bilal Skaf and another man raped the girl in front of 12 men.
August 30, 2000: An 18-year-old woman was raped in Bankstown by Mohammed Skaf, who told her he was going to “fuck her Lebanese style”. She was taken to two other locations and raped and assaulted by 14 men over six hours.
September 4, 2000: Two 16-year-old girls were taken from the Beverly Hills train station to a house where they were repeatedly raped by three men over a five-hour period.
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