FOUR brothers convicted of gang raping two Sydney teenagers have been jailed for a total of 70 years between them. The brothers maintained they were innocent in court today, claiming they were the victim of a police conspiracy because they were Muslims.
| "Dat's right, y'r honor! Da cops planted my doinker there!" |
One of the brothers, known as MAK, stood up after they were sentenced, and proclaimed the four men’s innocence. "We did not do this crime," he said. "This crime was committed against us. The police set us up because we are Muslim."
You can’t charge us with raping Kufrs, we used to do that for fun back in Pakistan
A fifth rapist who was also involved in the attack - and due to be sentenced today - killed himself in a Sydney prison a week ago.
That was nice of him
The Nepalese-born man, who was 26, had not told his parents that he had wound up in prison in Australia.
| You mean he actually felt shame? |
One of the victims, known only as LS, today said she was "not overly satisfied" with the sentences. One of the investigating detectives, Senior Constable Tony Adams, said no amount of jail time would ever compensate the victims for what he described as one the most violent rapes he had ever investigated. "No sentence, no matter how harsh, will ever compensate the victim(s)," he said. The four men were found guilty by a New South Wales Supreme Court jury late last year of nine counts each of aggravated sexual assault in company. The rapes occurred at their family home in Ashfield, in Sydney’s inner west, on July 28, 2002. The men threatened two girls with knives and bullets during the attack, and one of the victims was told the other had been killed because she resisted the rapists.
| But the only reason the lads were arrested is because they were Muslims... |
Sentencing judge Justice Brian Sully said cultural differences between the perpetrators and their victims should not be used as justification for the rapes. "Neither the law, nor the culture of Australia, recognises multiculturalism ... as providing in any way or to anybody a convenient justification either for rape or for any other form of sexual abuse," he said. Justice Sully sentenced 25-year-old MSK, who he described as the ringleader, and 17-year-old MMK to 22 years each behind bars. He sentenced their 23-year-old brother MAK to 16 years, and MRK to 10 years. MSK was given a non-parole period of 16 and a half years, MMK 13 years, and MAK 12 years. However, MRK, who did not perform any of the rapes himself, could be out of jail in as little as five years. None of the rapists can be identified by more than initials because two were minors at the time of the attack. |