It seemed clear to me that these men were sending out a message to the community in Sydney. It is often difficult to predict whether there will be rehabilitation. 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. I remanded all of them in custody. I also prohibited the taking of any photographs of the accused, two of whom were on bail. That is not the law. Lebanese move to west Africa, escaping the crisis at home A new wave of migrants has come looking for jobs Jun 10th 2021 W HEN BANKS started to fail and protesters began filling the streets in. Another four men were in a red van that followed the white van. Bilal Skaf sat throughout the sentencing process looking as if he could not care less about any of it. I then had to give them quite complex directions about the facts in the trial and the law, which has its complexities. Australia enjoys friendly bilateral relations with Lebanon, underpinned by strong people-to-people links. Counsel for each of the other accused, as well as the Crown, then attacked Bilal Skaf in cross-examination, suggesting he was a liar. The police arrested the perpetrator of the crime as she climbed to the tram, after people called who reported a woman with blood. Impact Lebanon has raised over 5m (A$9m) since it launched its disaster-relief fundraiser immediately after the blast. The local people were all blown up and the tragic end was released | International | Sanli News Network SETN.COM, Eleven-year-old Georgia wins on The Voice Kids. They were classified as a Turk due to Lebanon being a province of the Ottoman Empire at that time. One of the dead was Sarkis Abboud, 61 years old, and the second was his friend, Tony Yazbek, two years younger. The young girl was subjected to extensive questioning by counsel for each of the accused and repeatedly it was suggested to her that she had consented to everything and/or was exaggerating or lying. The first community of Lebanese in Australia were Maronite Christians, quickly followed by a large Muslim community. A number of family members of the gang members, other than the Skafs, gave evidence and it seemed to me that they were decent, honourable people, who were troubled about the criminal involvement of these young men. 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. Its just a mess. Abouzeid was in Melbourne at the time of the blast, relying on relatives to send photos of the destruction. In this case, only Bilal Skaf gave evidence. But the central bank, Banque du Liban, led by former Merrill Lynch banker Riad Salameh . politics Political news 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. Unwelcome at school, too much discipline at home, so where do these teenagers go to find respect? Trad asks. He also clicked his fingers towards my court officers, ordering them to get him water. Bilal Skaf, however, elected to give evidence. The largest wave of migration from Lebanon occurred between 1976 and 1981 during the Lebanese Civil War. economy A Year Later, Unanswered Questions and Bad Blood, The Nanjing Massacre: Scenes from a Hideous Slaughter 75 Years Ago, Blood Money: Tsunami Recovery Funds Go to Japans Whaling Industry. To condemn the racialisation of crime is not to deny that there are Lebanese Australians or Vietnamese Australians who commit crimes. The evidence of the two girls was given in closed court hearings but I permitted the press to have access to the transcripts of the evidence on the basis that the names of the two girls were not revealed and no photographs were taken of them. The 37-year-old Carlingford man and 40-year-old Dundas Valley man have been charged with Dealing in the proceeds of crime - money or property worth $1,000,000 or more, contrary to section 400.3 (1) of the Criminal Code (Cth). Lebanese Australians (Arabic: , French: australiens libanaise) refers to citizens or permanent residents of Australia of Lebanese ancestry. Luckily, a man came around the corner, saw her plight and approached her. The evidence of the two girls was probably sufficient in its own right to identify Bilal Skaf because he had many conversations with them on the night and he left a condom full of his semen in the park where he and others sexually assaulted these two girls. It seems that the police learned from him that the woman had stabbed his friend as well. 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. This meant that the Crown could seek my consent to cross-examine him to show that he was a man of bad character. There was no obvious reason. Malayalam News business Much of that support is being directed virtually to a grassroots online fundraising drive based in London. Ill work till the end to help save this country from this corrupt mafia government., Beirut blast timeline: what we know and what we don't, Beirut explosion: anger at officials grows after missed warnings, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. That sentence was modified several times upon appeal. This means that many other gangs of boys are doing the same crimes. They could not suggest the girls consented to sexual intercourse because they claimed not to have been there. Present governor of the State of NSW is a distinguished Lebanese-Christian woman. Thus, the Crown Prosecutor and the counsel for Hajeid and Ghanem joined forces to attack Bilal Skaf. For thousands of Lebanese Australians residing in Lebanon, the opportunity to return to Australia at any point provides a psychological safety net. Hamzy, 44, was gunned down in the . To give you an idea of what to expect, here are some rent averages for the most popular cities in Australia. #23. There is no concept in our law that there is a category of person called loose women who are deemed somehow to consent and certainly there is no law that merely because a young woman might give an indication that she was friendly with someone and didn't protest too much when they were laying hands on her that she therefore was consenting to anything. Home News Video- A crime shocked the Lebanese in Australia.. New facts about the murder of Abboud Yazbek. Many among Australia's Lebanese community trace their families' arrival back to the 1960s and 1970s, when the number of Lebanese-born residents tripled to 33,424. Skaf and the other two men made their acquaintance by speaking to them politely in the shopping centre. Meanwhile Bilal Skaf and others with him got into the van in which they had come to the park and drove around to the telephone box where one of them produced a gun and ordered her to get inside. 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. However, although these cases attracted some media attention while the trials were proceeding, they passed largely with little comment.'. United States None of the accused or the victims had been drinking alcohol and none had been taking drugs, even though having marijuana was an inducement offered to the two girls. However, these crimes were of secondary importance. What we found was that in a matter of weeks they were excelling the other kids in school. A 44-year-old woman killed two Lebanese residing in Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria in the southeast of Australia. The crime was comparable to Lebanese gang rapes in Sydney. This reflected his complete contempt for the court process and his rejection of any notion of contrition or remorse. Who could believe anyone would consent to being assaulted, robbed, abused and threatened? Bilal Skaf raped her vaginally and another man, whom she could not identify, also raped her vaginally. All rights reserved. Finnane had been a judge of the New South District Court for a little more than a year when appointed to hear the Skaf gang trials, the first of which commenced on December 13, 2001. Lebanese Crime, Official Cowardice In Australia. This went on for some time and eventually Mohammed Skaf used a mobile phone to summon his brother Bilal. 26 May . The men in the red van also sexually assaulted them in the same fashion, as well as punching them and kicking them. 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. One of Australia's most redneck outback parliamentarians, Bob Katter, is the descendant of Lebanese immigrants. He acted throughout the trial as someone who wanted to be noticed. That was an attraction, too. It is a crime that assaults human dignity. Frequently, whilst sitting in the dock, he clicked his fingers towards his counsel, summoning him over. Relatives have legally . My views on sentence were not those of the judges of the Court of Criminal Appeal, but their sentences prevail. One of them was a fourteen-year-old boy with an intellectual disability who was known, following directions by me, as H, and two brothers, Mahmoud Sanoussi and Mohammed Sanoussi. Look what happened in Germany in the 1940s., Selda Dagistanli, a lecturer in criminology at the University of Western Sydney, agrees that, When you attach criminal behavior to ethnicity, thats racist, and it makes you question the motivation of the people saying it., New South WalesPolice Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas says the problem in Bankstown and other parts of southwestern Sydney is not as bad as it seems. Knowing this much corruption gives me more reason not to leave Lebanon. The theft occurred in a tightly secured area, further reflecting the cash-strapped country's continued decay. Neither Ghanem nor Hajeid gave evidence and their cases were run on the basis that the girls could not identify them but that, of course, became very difficult for them when Bilal Skaf gave evidence that placed them at the park. 'All of them were examples of depravity and cruelty. She was then dumped at a train station after being hosed down. The Australian Embassy in Beirut, opened in 1967, was the third Australian Embassy to be established in the Middle East. Why was the third victim plucked from a train? Bilal Skaf and up to eleven other men who were never identified, then turned up in a van sometime later. The devastation in Beirut has profoundly touched Australias 250,000-strong Lebanese community. Few crimes in recent Australian history have stirred more community anger and fear than a series of pack rapes committed by more than a dozen young Lebanese men in Sydney's west 18 years ago. In the face of such catastrophic ruin, the only option local residents had was to help. I wouldnt even put the request through to Canberra that the Lebanese government wanted direct funding, because it would go nowhere., That level of overt corruption is only too familiar for ordinary Lebanese, who blame government negligence and mismanagement for the devastating blast. Those who pleaded guilty, were given lesser sentences than those who pleaded not guilty, because the law provided for this. The former ambassador is no stranger to Lebanese corruption, having fielded astonishing requests from Lebanese officials in his time there seeking Australian aid money for self-fulfilling purposes. This then meant there was not sufficient evidence against him of identification. Average rent in Melbourne. Major Joyce Harmer of the Salvation Army was in court as a support person for her and I am sure this helped her greatly when she was giving evidence. 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. The geographic heartland of Australias 100,000-strong Lebanese community, its red brick apartments and cement-sheet homes are peppered with mosques, musallas and churches. Few crimes in recent Australian history have stirred more community anger and fear than a series of pack rapes committed by more than a dozen young Lebanese men in Sydney's west 18 years ago. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Unidentified thieves broke into the headquarters of Lebanon's state news agency and stole a server containing its photo archive, officials say. A 44-year-old woman killed two Lebanese residing in Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria in the southeast of Australia. 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. Racially motivated crime and punishment The treatment of a jailed Lebanese-Australian rapist has highlighted a wider debate about ethnicity and crime in this most cosmopolitan of nations,. I wont be packing up., For Melki, staying in Lebanon isnt simply about a place of residence, its about justice. 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 about a dozen counter-terrorism officials, security experts and Muslim community members. There is no concept in our law that there is a category of person called loose women who are deemed somehow to consent and certainly there is no law that merely because a young woman might give an indication that she was friendly with someone and didn't protest too much when they were laying hands on her that she therefore was consenting to anything. After being indecently assaulted on the train, she was then forced off the train and was taken up the steps of the Bankstown railway station. This was also the position for the assaults and the robberies committed on the two victims. Confined at home due to Victorias lockdown, Maakasa has taken to social media to connect with others in the Lebanese diaspora across the world and offer assistance however she can. Indeed, when he was being taken away after I imposed sentence on him, he turned to me and said, 'And I am innocent, you c***t!' Within these neighbourhoods lies the ravaged home of award-winning Lebanese-Australian journalist Rania Abouzeid. Although Lebanese are to be found throughout Australia . I like Middle Eastern people. They had hardly ever been over the Harbour Bridge and were quite concerned when that happened. Police Recorded Incidents and Hate Crime: Australia 105 Police Recorded Incidents and Hate Crime Overseas 106 Immigrants as victims of crime 109 Bias in the Criminal Justice System 112 . Bilal Skaf again had vaginal sex with her. Lebanese mafia is a Colloquial term for organized crime groups which origin from Lebanon and Levant. They wanted wide publicity. The . 2. But below the surface of this lower-middle class success story is a Middle Eastern ghetto terrorized by members of its community. trot He writes that one suggested if sentences as large as that imposed on Bilal Skaf were allowed to stand rapists would in future murder their victims. Often different rival criminal families are interlocked in feuds, resulting in a fair amount of violence. What was it that caused Bilal Skaf to carefully plan this series of attacks on young women in Sydney? Our initial goal was 10,000. 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. Since then, migration has significantly reduced and growth rates have become steady. Ive been a journalist for 20 years and Ive covered some really tough stories, Im no stranger to these sorts of violent upheavals, but this one feels different, Abouzeid says. There was no doubt about Skaf's involvement because, apart from his own admissions, the DNA evidence linking him to the events was very clear. But when I was older and more Lebanese kids moved to my area, we formed a gang so we could protect each other and I started bullying back. Some experienced criminal lawyers also expressed disagreements with Finnane's sentences, claiming he had no regard to the Skaf brothers' rehabilitation. Lebanon's national archives are located in a building that houses two ministries. Five computers were stolen along with the servers, Lebanese TV channel LBCI reported. I thought she was a particularly brave young woman who refused to give in to any of these suggestions. That is my hope. rancho bernardo country club membership cost; About. Conviction of Skaf was inevitable. Subsequent migration was steady until an influx occurred surrounding the Arab . Then another car arrived with the offenders Chami and two other men, one man known as Nike Sam. The Pursuit of Justice, published by New Holland Publishers, RRP $35, is available from all good book retailers or online at New Holland Publishers. The trial was quite tense. I hope that those who have been released do rehabilitate or, at the very least, that they do not re-offend. [4] Some of the more notorious Arab mafia families include the infamous el-koura Younes Clan, the Shams Clan the Al Zein Clan[5] and the Miri Clan from Bremen. 33. I live in the hyphen between those two identities, Abouzeid says, now en route to Beirut to salvage her home. Surprised by Lebanese officials audaciously asking for Australian money for personal reasons, Bartlem refused to process their requests further. However, when the van finally stopped, it was at a park in Greenacre. When he gave evidence, Bilal Skaf was cocky in his manner and almost contemptuous of the Crown prosecutor. His attitude was the same throughout the trial. Little is known regarding the health and lifestyle behaviours of Australians of Lebanese ethnicity. 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. Both of the Skafs were convicted. If you ever hear him speak, you would never believe it. At the time, Mohammed Skaf was still a schoolboy and attended the same school as the victim, to whom he was known as 'Sam'. USA A GANG war over drug turf that has been simmering for two decades has erupted into a series of public shootings that has turned Fairfield in western Sydney into Australia's most dangerous suburb. In the witness box, she clutched a small doll in her hands and gave firm and clear evidence. Yet, the new gangland war fails to capture the imagination. Stars: Travis Fimmel, Jemmason Power, Talijah Blackman-Corowa, Eden Cassady Votes: 2,921 3. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Not one of them showed that fear of criminal proceedings or of jail was ever in their minds. The main activities of Arab gangs in Australia are narcotics and weapons trafficking, extortion, prostitution, car theft and money laundering. The two victims were schoolgirls who were wandering around a shopping centre at Chatswood on 10 August 2000 about nine o'clock at night. Australian police have arrested more than 200 people involved in organised crime after infiltrating an encrypted messaging app that opened up nearly 25 million messages about "industrial-scale". When they got into the white van, the two girls discovered the presence of the other two men. Manorama Online 5 Brian Lipscomb The devastation has profoundly touched Australias 250,000-strong Lebanese community, with the immediate sense of despair now transitioning to a desperate urge to assist. This large group of men got out of this van. I was always hopeful that the people I sentenced in other cases might see the point of rehabilitation and, undoubtedly, some of them did. This offence carries a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment. Im still in a state of shock. Worldwide pandemic lockdowns have only made it easier for Lebanese expats to coordinate. Source: AAP. 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. After finishing school, Basha became involved in more serious crimes. RELATED: Manhunt under way after shooting in Sydney suburb. Rebecca Maakasa, confined in Melbournes lockdown, is connecting through social media to the Lebanese diaspora to offer whatever assistance she can, Its like an apocalyptic world, Sydney-born Yasmin Kassis describes. What made this trial startlingly different from most rape trials of which I was aware were four matters: 1. All the windows were broken, the doors blown up, she says. Corona Skaf used condoms and threw them on the ground. Arab world Lebanese migration to Australia occurred in the three main waves. Its just amazing to see how much traction it got, Diana Abbas, director of Impact Lebanon, says. 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. Australia's law defines rape as "unlawful sexual act with another person by force; without their consent." I cannot recall any other evidence being presented by him or on his behalf. News Sports Coronavirus 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. A range of factors impinge upon criminal behaviour . Frank Hakim, who emigrated to Australia at the age of 20 or so, was the first prominent Lebanese criminal. 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. 'Skaf and the members of this gang clearly wanted public recognition for what they had done.'. investment 'Many of the victims, I am sure, will be affected by these crimes for the whole of their lives. It was nearly midnight. Finnane dealt with sadistic rapists before and after the Skaf cases. The following is an edited extract of The Pursuit of Justice by Michael Finnane, QC: All three accused were Australian citizens whose parents had come from Lebanon. In this next car, the victim was repeatedly indecently assaulted, threatened with death when something that looked like a gun was held to her head and raped vaginally three times and orally five times. Bilal Skaf was one of the people who then approached the victim whom he grabbed by the hair. Will this be the catalyst that prompts the move home? Africa COVID-19 This surprising evidence was used by the Crown to bolster its case about identification. Deputy Commissioner for Investigations and Counter Terrorism Dave Hudson.Daniel Munoz None generated anything like the public attention these trials drew. France They were followed by other groups of criminals of Lebanese descent, many of whom, in contrast to their predecessors, preferred to remain in the part of Sydney where Keep Reading Tri Minh Tran Authorities have stopped Australians and Australian-Lebanese dual nationals, including mothers with children, from leaving Lebanon. But material losses, even huge painful ones, are things that one day can be replaced. Instead of taking her to the Harbour Bridge, Mohammed Skaf drove her to a park in Greenacre. Called next to him in the front seat, but she indicated that there was no evidence of his involvement in the crime, but only wanted him as a witness to it. Then it was reported from the police, that its investigators were trying to find a driver, who they believe transported the appellant from Brunswick, where the crime was committed, to the Carlton North area, where she was arrested, and said that he was wearing a dark-colored jacket with boxes in the back seat of his car, in addition to a breathing tube. He will remain a threat to the community. Criminals are coming together from a really diverse range of backgrounds to do bad things together. Nevertheless he acknowledges Middle Eastern organized crime in the city is not going to go away and more research is needed. The assailants broke the door and its lock into the archive room. ', Then Labor premier Bob Carr has said of the original 55-year sentence: 'It was certainly a headline grabber, it met community expectations, it sent a powerful message to any punk with violent tendencies on the margins of gang activity that this was very dangerous behaviour.'. The protests inspired Lebanese abroad to get involved, prompting would-be activists to connect virtually and volunteer. Horrific scenes of carnage on 4 August have given way to an enormous display of humanitys strength, strangers shoulder to shoulder beginning the daunting task of renewal. Many of the rapists have never been identified and police fear there were more victims who did not come forward. Stephen Gibbs for Daily Mail Australia 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 . 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. Once you got into the zone where you are powerful and people are scared of you, you dont want to stop. Of these, 52.5 per cent were males and 47.5 per cent were females. There were 72 drive-by shootings in Sydney in the first half of this year one every 2 days most of which took place in Bankstown, the City of Liverpool further west and in Sydneys inner-west. To my mind, the community deserved to be protected from Bilal Skaf for many years. [2], 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. America live broadcast This article (a transcribed speech by former Australian Police Detective Tim Priest) gives an important look at why there was "white riot" on the Cronulla beaches. Id punch any Aussie kid who even looked at me., (MORE:Circle Sentencing: Alternative Justice in Australia). 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. 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. International For example, I had to explain that sexual intercourse was not, as many people might think, only penetration of the vagina of a woman by the penis of a man, but extended to penetration of any part of the body of a person by any part of the body of another. And an otherwise law-abiding majority erect a wall of silence when dealing with police they regularly accuse and sue for thuggery and racial profiling. '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. This also caused these girls great concern. Many months later he pleaded guilty to a series of sexual offences that included the events of this night. She was also raped vaginally by another man who also forced oral sex on her. Political overview. 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. Up in a fair amount of violence dont want to stop Australia narcotics., prostitution, car theft and money laundering young woman who refused to give evidence whether there will affected... 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