They were quite friendly at school and he suggested that she come with him on a drive to go and look at the Harbour Bridge on a Saturday. It is often difficult to predict whether there will be rehabilitation. According to exclusive statistics from the armed crime squad, there has been a five-fold increase in non-fatal shootings in the north-west in four years and the region now sees almost two thirds of Victoria's non-fatal shootings. At some time after this first trial began, I was informed that there were other trials involving the same men and other men in which kidnapping, forced sexual intercourse and other assaults were involved. The first community of Lebanese in Australia were Maronite Christians, quickly followed by a large Muslim community. In certain parts of the region, life is structured around extended clan families, a number of whom are active in criminal activities such as narcotics trafficking, kidnapping for ransom and car theft. However, the victims' descriptions of the other men who attacked them were quite vague, as could be expected. But with drive-by shootings, the nature of criminality in Sydney has changed. Skaf did all the talking and suggested a trip in a car and puffing some marijuana. On that day Bilal Skaf, Belal Hajeid and Mohammed Ghanem sat behind bullet-proof glass in the dock of a court room within Sydney's Downing Centre complex. 'These were not random attacks and, in my view, they were aimed at creating terror in the community. The men in the van departed quickly and the man took her to his flat, calmed her down and helped her call a friend who eventually came and took her home. Skaf is now in Goulburn's Supermax prison serving a 31-year sentence with a minimum of 28 years. The law provides that a discount of up to 25 per cent is appropriate to be given if the plea of guilty is given at an early time. I will clean up, I will repair what I can repair, and then Ill live there. Id punch any Aussie kid who even looked at me., (MORE:Circle Sentencing: Alternative Justice in Australia). Result: gun crime in western Sydney and northern Melbourne often involves Lebanese Australians, as we saw with the murder last month of Hamad Assaad, himself a suspected hitman. Whatever they might have done in those centuries, the law is now perfectly clear - any woman is entitled to refuse consent to sexual intercourse at any time. The Beqaa Valley, a fertile valley in east Lebanon and one of the country's most important farming regions, is also known for being one of the most important cannabis cultivating regions in the Middle East. There was no application that I should do otherwise. There was also evidence that each of the accused and the men in the red van abused the girls, calling them 'sluts' and threatened retribution on them if either of them had VD or AIDS. If a person who is guilty, pleads guilty, anxiety and stress to the victims is removed and it is reasonable to give lesser sentences. All three men put pressure on her to agree to have sex with them but she refused. For the past decades the Arab crime families had controlled 78% of Germany's underworld activities. Michael Finnane, the judge who imposed that record sentence - which was later reduced after several appeals - was widely celebrated for his stance at the time. Breaking news This offence carries a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment. Bilal Skaf was one of the people who then approached the victim whom he grabbed by the hair. The first occurred from 1880 to 1947 when many Maronite, Melkite and Orthodox Christians migrated. The closest thing to non-white allies we have is . For thousands of Lebanese Australians residing in Lebanon, the opportunity to return to Australia at any point provides a psychological safety net. Australia's law defines rape as "unlawful sexual act with another person by force; without their consent." The rapists' record tape a great amount of their rape and this was used in court as evidence. Those who pleaded guilty, were given lesser sentences than those who pleaded not guilty, because the law provided for this. rancho bernardo country club membership cost; About. I wont be packing up., For Melki, staying in Lebanon isnt simply about a place of residence, its about justice. Each of them also denied agreeing at any time, in the van or in the park, to oral sex with these men and the men in the red van. Present governor of the State of NSW is a distinguished Lebanese-Christian woman. We started with 10-12 members, now we have 160 members and so many volunteering requests, Abbas says, adding that the membership has spread to diaspora communities in numerous countries, including Australia. By this time, she had been kidnapped and raped vaginally, orally and anally more than forty times by fourteen men. Then another car arrived with the offenders Chami and two other men, one man known as Nike Sam. Skaf used condoms and threw them on the ground. However, although these cases attracted some media attention while the trials were proceeding, they passed largely with little comment.'. Australia In Sydney, Disaffected Lebanese Kids Caught in Spiraling Gang Violence Facing racism at school and pressure at home, children from Middle Eastern families in Australia are dragged. A criminal trial commences with the Crown prosecutor calling evidence, after making a short opening address, then each of the accused in turn calls evidence in his case if he wishes to do so. Australian Lebanese families. But below the surface of this lower-middle class success story is a Middle Eastern ghetto terrorized by members of its community. economy My understanding was that the relevant agencies would report back to Australia, either through our UN office in Geneva or New York, how they spent that money, and the government would see that as being accountable to the Australian taxpayer, he says. She was able to identify Bilal Skaf because he made a point of shoving his face close to hers and saying, 'I'm Sam's brother, Sam.'. She does not have to fight to the death to protect herself from sexual assault. I consider my sentences imposed on the members of this gang were warranted. Lebanese mafia is a Colloquial term for organized crime groups which origin from Lebanon and Levant.Lebanese organized crime is active in the country of Lebanon itself, as well as in countries and areas with a large Arab community, most notably United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and Canada also in the Triple Frontier in South America. Skaf was talking on a mobile phone to other people in Arabic. live broadcast This also caused these girls great concern. I was the judge who dealt with these trials. National News Agency staff in Beirut found a broken . He extended his criminal activities and eventually became known as "the Lebanese . There was no doubt in my mind that when Chami and Hajeid arrived, they both knew that this unfortunate young woman had already been raped in the toilets at Bankstown and in a car in the car park at the Bankstown Trotting Club. 'It seemed clear to me that these men were sending out a message to the community in Sydney,' he writes. The 1997-98 statistics produce high alleged offender rates . I like Middle Eastern people. Bilal Skaf raped her vaginally and another man, whom she could not identify, also raped her vaginally. "Lebanese media often help enshrine the idea that men can get away with these crimes," said Hayat Mirshad, co-director at Fe-Male, a local feminist group. This trial concluded on 11 July 2002 and concerned events of 12 August 2000, only two nights after the attacks on the two girls from Chatswood. While working as CEO of the Australian International Islamic College in Brisbane last year, he initiated a new program that saw problem students placed in a behavior-management room where they were closely supervised by an Islamic cleric. business Melbourne experiences a moderate crime rate and is generally considered a safe city for living and travelling. The police arrested the perpetrator of the crime as she climbed to the tram, after people called who reported a woman with blood. Shimbiris VIP Bilal Skaf was the eldest and was about 21 years of age. That is my hope. But the central bank, Banque du Liban, led by former Merrill Lynch banker Riad Salameh . 'During the sentencing process at the end of the Skaf trials, I expressed the view that what this gang did was worse than murder. , updated I cant tell what some of the things are in the photos, what they once were. 34. Both Mohammed Skaf and the victim went and saw her mother and got her consent as the trip was going to be on a Saturday night. Why did the gang first of all go to a shopping centre at Chatswood? In the case of the Lebanese in Australia , specifically Sydney, they took this to another level and built a bad reputation in a number of areas: organised crime, petty crime (robbing and beating up people), questionable business practices (famous for not paying for services rendered or under delivering). Skaf and the other two men made their acquaintance by speaking to them politely in the shopping centre. He will remain a threat to the community. I then summed up the entire case, dealing with all the evidence, all the arguments and the law that applied. After they were raped, the victims were just abandoned. When I came to reflect on the facts of this trial, I again found myself wondering what it was that caused Bilal Skaf and the others with him to behave in such a depraved and violent fashion against a completely helpless girl. What they were asked to decide was whether these three men, or any one of them, had committed the criminal offences with which they had been charged and they could only decide the accused had committed those offences, or any of them, if they were unanimously satisfied of that beyond reasonable doubt. The girls in the car were very concerned at this point, but too scared to get out and run away. In this case, only Bilal Skaf gave evidence. Restaurateurs in Bankstown pay up to $50,000 a year in protection money or risk having their premises firebombed, while Shia and Sunni Muslims exchange invectives and blows on the streets. However, when the van finally stopped, it was at a park in Greenacre. Single expats: 1.630 USD. "The passion is there. Subscribe here: http://9Soci.al/chmP50wA97J Full Episodes: https://9now.app.link/uNP4qBkmN6 | The Facebook Gangster (2021)For investigative reporter Nick McK. 5 Brian Lipscomb The jury considered this very carefully and were out considering their verdicts for a number of days but, when they came back, they convicted the three accused on all charges. The passion is there and so is the willingness to help, Rebecca Maakasa, a 23-year-old Melburnian, says. What made this trial startlingly different from most rape trials of which I was aware were four matters: 1. One of the victims, an 18-year-old woman, was raped 40 times by 14 men over four hours in an attack coordinated by mobile phone. In the mid-1960s he obtained the protection of Lennie McPherson and proceeded to provide protection himself to Lebanese and other ethnic gaming clubs. And that it happened because of incompetence and corruption.. The first found that Middle-Eastern Australians reported more discrimination compared with non-Middle-Eastern Australians. Following this, the Crown prosecutor made a closing address dealing with all aspects of the case and putting forward arguments as to why there should be convictions in each case. He remained the dominant figure and was the person who directed everything that later happened on that night in the park at Greenacre. Bourse You just want more, Basha says. (2001) The Lebanese . Under a large number of refugees, there were also several extended clans that already in Lebanon were deeply entrenched in organized crime. investment Not one of them showed that fear of criminal proceedings or of jail was ever in their minds. That was an attraction, too. Crime 0 120 46.11 Crime rates in Australia Safety in Australia Contributors: 7102 Last update: February 2023 These data are based on perceptions of visitors of this website in the past 3 years. By KAREEM CHEHAYEB February 27, 2023. 4. and Lebanon were processed at a higher rate than the Australian-born in each of the five years. The same trial process occurred as happened in the first trial and during my summing up I made the same remarks about the entitlement of a woman to say no. Expat families: 2.640 USD. they deserve nothing less and we'd be making the world a better place. His demeanour in the court room said that. It seems that the police learned from him that the woman had stabbed his friend as well. As for their killing, the police learned about it from citizens who told them that they had found Aboud quarreling in a side road in one of the citys suburbs. I also prohibited the taking of any photographs of the accused, two of whom were on bail. EXTRACT: After the sentences were imposed, many people would say things like, 'I'm glad you got those Lebs,' but I found myself trying to explain that I did not 'get those Lebs' at all. Single expats: 1.773 USD. The number of perpetrators of these crimes has been climbing steadily in recent years, with around six thousand imprisoned in 2021, compared to around half of this number who were imprisoned for. Deputy Commissioner for Investigations and Counter Terrorism Dave Hudson.Daniel Munoz The fact is that right up to the present, none of the perpetrators have ever said why they became involved in these crimes. When later interviewed, Chami claimed that Bilal Skaf told him, 'There's a slut at the Bankstown Trotting Club.' The last person to plead guilty was a friend of Mohammed Skaf. In the park, each girl was dragged by the neck to a different part of the park and forced to let these men have oral sex with her. The largest proportion of the Lebanese community in Australia, whether it includes those who were born overseas or also those who claim Lebanese ancestry, now lives . SYDNEY (Reuters) - The children of refugees who fled Lebanon's civil war for peaceful Australia in the 1970s form a majority of Australian militants fighting in the Middle East, according to. I was lucky; I got a second chance. The sheer scale of it, and that it sounds like it was completely avoidable. The Ones That Didnt Make It: Australia-Bound Refugees Languish in Indonesia, Circle Sentencing: Alternative Justice in Australia, Wildfires Scorch Australia As Temperatures Reach Record Highs, Nelson Mandelas Extraordinary Life: An Interactive Timeline, How Did Gaddafi Die? Australia Arab organized crime was introduced in Australia after the mass immigration of Arab people after the Lebanese Civil War in the 1970s to the end of the 1980s. [1] Due to the vast international Arab diaspora and along with a certain amount of organized criminals active in their respective communities, the Beqaa Valley has become one of the most infamous marijuana and hashish exporting regions in the world. But to this day Finnane is regularly asked about the Skaf case, sometimes by strangers, at social functions and on other unexpected occasions. 3. J., Noble, G. Poynting, S. and Tabar, P. (2000) Kebabs, Kids, Cops and Crime.
From 1880 to the 1920s, mainly Maronite, Melkite and Orthodox Christians arrived on a small scale. What we found was that in a matter of weeks they were excelling the other kids in school. Those accompanying Bilal Skaf on 12 August, perhaps ten, perhaps eleven men, have not been brought to trial and many of those involved in the horrific spate of sexual assaults on 30 August 2000 have not been brought to trial. Facing racism at school and pressure at home, children from Middle Eastern families in Australia are dragged into world of organized crime and ethnic bloodletting, Lebanese youths are searched by Australian police in Sydney. 'What caused the unprecedented public interest in the Skaf trials, what set them apart from all other sexual assault trials, was the repeated attacks in a short time frame by a gang with a carefully planned strategy,' Finnane writes. Bilal Skaf again had vaginal sex with her. Finnane dealt with sadistic rapists before and after the Skaf cases. Of these, 52.5 per cent were males and 47.5 per cent were females. entertainment This surprising evidence was used by the Crown to bolster its case about identification. This then meant there was not sufficient evidence against him of identification. In the face of such catastrophic ruin, the only option local residents had was to help. That is not the law. 'Sexual intercourse without consent must be the worst crime after murder, because it involves a person invading the body of another, usually violently. The Triple Frontier, a tri-border area along the junction of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil, is often used by Lebanese groups connected to political parties but also by Arab Mafia groups as a heaven for smuggling and money laundering. Skaf, through his counsel, suggested the two girls consented to everything that happened but that, of course, had difficulties since he not only sexually assaulted these girls, but those in the gang, including him, assaulted them and robbed them of their jewellery, their watches, their mobile phones and their money. While Finnane's sentencing of the Skaf gang members was widely lauded and drew praise from many politicians, he was criticised privately by some other judges. Authorities have stopped Australians and Australian-Lebanese dual nationals, including mothers with children, from leaving Lebanon. In the early 1980s, as a young detective I was attached to the Drug Squad at . The other two were also fairly small, but with the sorts of faces that could easily be forgotten. And given the history of government efforts to obtain information on race, Im not even sure its something we should be doing. The identities of the men in the red van on 10 August have never been established. 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