Ashfield gang rapes
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The Ashfield gang rapes were a series sex attacks involving rape and indecent assault of as many as eighteen women which occurred in Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia in late 2001 and over a six month period in 2002.[1] The perpetrators were a group of five Pakistani immigrants (four of whom were brothers) while the victims were all white female teenagers.
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[edit] Rapists
The "K" Brothers:
Mohammed Sami K.
Mohammed Amir K.
Mohammed Mustapha K.
Mohammed Rashid K.
(The "K" Brothers have had their surnames suppressed as two of them were juvenile at the time of the crimes. In many news reports, the brothers have been referred to simply by their initials.)
The four K brothers are the children of a Sydney general practitioner, Dr Hasan K, of Pakistani origin. They had grown up in Pakistan and had been brought to Sydney in 2000 by their doting father, who provided them with a house in Ashfield. He unsuccessfully attempted in court to provide an alibi for his sons, and was facing perjury charges at the time of his death in November 2006. [2] [3]
The fifth rapist, Ram Shrestha, was a Nepalese immigrant and friend of the "K" brothers.
At the time of the trial, three of the K brothers were already in prison, serving time for a previous rape. In fact, MSK divulged this suppressed information (which had been kept from the jury to prevent them from being biased against the defendants) in open court in an attempt to have the trial aborted.
[edit] Fate of the Rapists
MSK, MAK, MRK, MMK are serving sentences ranging from 15 to 24 years. Ram Shrestha hung himself in his prison cell after he was found guilty.
[edit] Crimes
Their crimes are similar to the Sydney "Lebanese rapes" by the notorious Skaf brothers (so-called since the rapists in that case were of Lebanese origin). In fact, one of the victims alleged that the rapists referred to the Lebanese rapes during the crime. Many of the crimes were videotaped by the perpetrators and this video evidence was later used in court.
The crimes were, in chronological order:
January 20, 2002 Two sisters, 18 and 16, are taken to one of the brother's Ashfield house. MAK indecently assaults the younger one, but she manages to fight him off. MRK robs her.
February 14, 2002 Three girls are picked up by MMK and MAK and taken to the house, where they are plied with alcohol. Tegan Wagner, 14, is repeatedly raped by MSK and MAK in one of the bedrooms while her friends are in the lounge room. She alleged MMK also raped her and hit her when she tried to fight him off.
July 14, 2002 A 13-year-old girl, Cassie Hamim, has non-coerced, though legally non-consensual (see Statutory rape) sex with MMK. MSK then rapes her twice, followed by Shrestha.
July 28, 2002 - Two girls, aged 16 and 17, are lured, threatened at knifepoint and sexually assaulted at the Ashfield house by the five rapists. One of the victims was told that the other had been killed because she had resisted orders. These are the first girls to come forward, sparking the police investigation against the rapists.
MMK is also alleged to have indecently assaulted a 15-year-old girl, Y, in November 2001, but she did not wish to go to trial. On May 12, 2002, he allegedly indecently assaulted two other girls whom police cannot locate, molesting them while he videotaped them.
The four brothers were only convicted over the July 28 rapes, where they received a total of 70 years imprisonment. In late 2004, three of the brothers involved in the rape appealed against their sentences but had them rejected in November, 2005. The fourth brother is continuing his sentence while the fifth rapist, Ram Shrestha, has since committed suicide. [4]
In April, 2006 the New South Wales Supreme Court increased the sentences of three of the brothers. Justice Peter Hidden added a minimum of five years to MSK's sentence and a minimum two extra years to MAK's jail term for the February and July 14 rapes. Their younger brother, MMK, was also handed a 12-month sentence, to be served concurrently and in juvenile detention, for having consensual sex with an underage girl on the night of one of the rapes, as well as for an indecent assault in November, 2001. [5]
[edit] Cultural issues
It has been alleged, and indeed claimed by the rapists themselves, that the rapes originated in the clash of Pakistani and Australian cultures, that the rapists did not understand the notion of consent, or that they saw their victims as consenting on the basis of behaviour which Pakistani girls would not engage in. The judge in their trial explicitly reprimanded their lawyer in the trial for attempting to use this argument. [6]
[edit] Jail Bashing
On 9 February 2007 it was reported that the two oldest brothers had been bashed in Goulburn Correctional Centre. [7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- "History of Infamy"
- "Brothers' violent gang rapes revealed"
- "Gang rapists attacks unavoidable, says lawyer"
- Girls Like You (ISBN 1-4050-3727-X) by Paul Sheehan tracks the crimes by six brothers from Pakistan after they arrive in Sydney.
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