Hadi skaf brothers 60 minutes, the family of gang rapist sporting criminal record

At the time of his sentencing, Judge Michael Finnane called Mohammed Skaf – who was still an adolescent at the time – as "a violent, cowardly bully, arrogant, and a liar, in addition to being a rapist."

When Skaf was initially detained at the Kariong Juvenile Justice Centre as a 17-year-old, he made sexually suggestive statements to female personnel.

He exhibited no remorse for his role in the crimes, which included enticing a 16-year-old girl to Gosling Park, Greenacre, believing Mohammed was her friend.

There she was raped by Mohammed's brother Bilal and another man in front of 12 males who stood by and laughed.

And throughout Mohammed's adult prison sentence, he continued to blame his victims for initially agreeing to accompany him since "they came out with us as soon as I asked".

I was in the modest family living room of Mohammed Skaf's parents nearly nineteen years ago, contemplating what had preceded their sons' journey into ignominy.

Baria and Mustapha Skaf were gracious and hospitable, but Baria was still unable to accept her sons' guilt.

At a later meeting, she expressed the hope that everything had been a terrible mistake and that her "boys" would be released.

It was September 2002, and the Skaf gang of nine convicted rapists – out of 14 initial suspects – had just been sentenced to more than 240 years in prison.

The property was decorated with sofas with pastel patterns, white lace curtains, and varnished wooden tables.

The walls were covered with photographs of Mr Skaf, Baria, and their four children, as well as Arabic religious writings.

The surprise was that Mrs Skaf did not cover her head with a scarf in numerous photographs taken while Mohammed and Bilal were small, years before the birth of her later children Hadi and Noora.

She wore denim skirts and T-shirts and only began wearing the hijab permanently following the arrest of the Skaf sons.

Bilal Skaf attended Chullora Primary School, Strathfield South High School, and Belmont Boys School, where he participated in sports and earned two karate trophies in 1995.

Mrs Skaf, who was 41 years old at the time, had both Muslim and Christian friends.

Mrs Skaf expressed her joy at the prospect of her boys marrying Christian females "with a nice heart and a good head."

This appeared to be in contrast to her boys' attitude toward non-Muslim Australians.

Apart from racist slurs directed at rape victims, one of whom was referred to as a "Aussie pig" during her suffering, Bilal Skaf was the author of a message discovered on a police-seized mobile phone.

It read: "When you're low, slam a Christian or Catholic and bring yourself up."

When Baria's eldest child became a vicious rapist, he was just starting work on the trains and appeared to be following in his father's innocent footsteps.

Baria's photographs of Bilal in his freshly pressed State Rail uniform at the time depict a 20-year-old who appears younger than his age and is nothing like the "threat to any civilized society" mentioned by Judge Michael Finnane during his trial.

Bilal had visited Lebanon in the months preceding the rapes.

Baria aired a video of the trip, which featured Lebanese men having a good time with Bilal.

Baria was born in Tripoli, Lebanon, and moved here when she was seventeen.

Long before her emigration, tragedy struck her family, with her father dying in an accident when she was three, followed by the death of her mother during the Lebanon war.

“I am without a father and a mother,” she sobbed. “My family is shrinking, therefore I have my children to expand it. And then they abduct my Bilal.”

While seeing the footage of Bilal and the carousing guys, it was difficult not to assume that the collision of two cultures — Lebanese and Lebanese-Australian – sparked ideas in his mind.

The group lead by Bilal Skaf and Mohammed inquired of one of the rape victims whether "Leb c**k tasted better than Aussie c**k" and informed her that she would now be raped "Leb-style."

Baria Skaf could never reconcile how her sons might have ended up in such terrible circumstances.

While Mohammed remained in secondary school, Bilal had dropped out.

He worked as a spray painter before Mustapha leveraged his own favorable employment record to get his son's employment with State Rail.

Mustapha Skaf, who immigrated to Australia in 1976 at the age of 17, worked for State Rail for nearly 25 years before his sons were imprisoned, reaching to the position of customer service operator.

Bilal Skaf began working part-time in the weeks preceding the 2000 Summer Olympics in July 2000, when he was 18 years old.

Mr Skaf made two silver "medals" and a gold pin for himself and his son in recognition of their efforts during the Games.

Mr Skaf stated, "I've always worked hard to support my family." “I will do all possible to provide a home for my wife and children.”

However, Bilal was already involved in cannabis use and bad company when he returned from Lebanon, possibly with preconceived beliefs about Australian society.

Mr Skaf was keeping the boys' bedrooms undisturbed in 2002 because "it gives us hope that (they) may return one day."

At the time, Baria Skaf was unable to sleep and felt that "it would have been better if I had died."

Only a few days later, however, both Skaf parents found themselves in hot water with the jail authorities who were keeping their sons.

Mustapha Skaf was charged with soliciting a bribe to a prison official during a phone call to the Goulburn Supermax facility, where Bilal was being housed.

When a duty officer informed Mustapha that outside calls must be scheduled in advance and approved for specific times, Mustapha volunteered to pay $100 to have his kid connected.

Mustapha was refused prison access during the investigation, but the case was ultimately abandoned after it was determined to be without merit.

Baria was caught on camera attempting to sneak a letter to Bilal's then-fiancee out of Supermax in the same month after he handed it to her during a visit and she hid it in her socks.

Corrective Services NSW prohibited her from visiting any NSW jails for a two-year period.

Baria and Mustapha Skaf, now in their sixties, will welcome one son home, completing their family.

Mohammed Skaf was paroled after the NSW State Parole Authority determined that it was preferable for community safety to release him than to keep him inside until he was no longer had to be supervised.

Neighbors who witnessed younger brother Hadi speeding down the street on his motorcycle will now have to contend with a convicted rapist.

Mohammed will serve a two-year parole period under rigorous terms, including electronic monitoring, and will be barred from entering the Liverpool, Fairfield, Blacktown, and Parramatta local government areas, where the rapes occurred.

However, they will have to wait until at least February 2033 for the release of Bilal, the eldest and rape gang mastermind.