One of three Melbourne men who pleaded guilty to the rape of a 17-year-old girl in Croatia last year has been ambushed in a movie cinema by A Current Affair while on a date.
Waleef Latif, 21, was approached by a reporter from the A Current Affair while he was at a movie cinema screening of Zoolander with a female friend.
While Latif remained silent, the young unidentified woman had plenty to say in defence of Latif, appearing to argue that because the girl had accepted compensation for the assault, she had not been attacked.
He did ask his date whether she wanted to get a donut.
“You’re disgusting for harassing him,” Latif’s date told the reporter.
“What feral girl would accept $10,000?”
“If it was rape, why would he only pay $10,000?”
Latif and his two friends, Dylan Djohan and Ashwin Kumar, both 23, pleaded guilty to the rape of the unidentified 17-year-old Norwegian woman in Croatia last year.
According to the girl, she had been drinking in the bar with the men when she was dragged into the men’s toilet and raped.
Although she immediately reported the rape to police, two of the men said the sex was consensual while one claimed he had not been involved.
As part of the legal settlement, they jointly paid $31,594 to avoid both a criminal trial and the possibility of 15 years in a Croatian jail.
Back home in Australia, friends posted Facebook messages in support of the trio suggesting the girl had lied for financial gain despite their admission of guilt.
On last night’s ACA episode, reporter Reid Butler followed Latif to the cinema, then approached him for answers about the incident.
The trio’s plea deal has been widely criticised, with many questioning the morality of “paying off” the victim to avoid punishment.
Watch a clip from the Current Affair interview below.
(Post continues after video)
Latif’s parents have leapt to the 21-year-old’s defence, labelling him “perfect” earlier this month.
“[He is] perfect. When you do nothing, you are perfect,” the parents told the Daily Mail Australia.
The five-year good behaviour bond handed down to the three friends by the Croatian courts does not apply in Australia.