WARNING: The following article contains details about a series of sexual assaults in Sydney 13 years ago. If you, or someone you know, has been a victim of sexual assault, the information may be distressing.
By MAMAMIA TEAM
UPDATE:Despite having his parole revoked more than two weeks ago, it’s been reported that Skaf gang rapist Mohammed Sanoussi will be released from custody.
Previously Sanoussi’s parole had been revoked less than 24 hours after it was granted after New South Wales Attorney-General Greg Smith reportedly sought an intervention when it was revealed that Mohammed Sanoussi planned to live with his brothers – the same brothers who were yesterday charged with bashing a cleaner.
We’ll update the story as more details emerge.
When Sanoussi was first granted parole, Mamamia reported:
Thirteen years ago, a young man named Mohammed Sanoussi was one of more than a dozen boys and young men who raped several teenage girls in Sydney’s suburbs.
Sanoussi was only 16 years old at the time. He is now 29.
And this week he was granted parole by the State Parole Authority in NSW, three years ahead of his expected release.
The convicted rapist’s release didn’t come without conditions – he will not be allowed to take drugs or drink alcohol, he’ll have to wear an electronic monitoring device, he will take part in psychological and psychiatric treatment.
Sanoussi will not be allowed to have any contact with his victims or anyone under the age of 16. He cannot visit Kings Cross or a specified gym in his home suburb and he is to have no association with members of the Brothers for Life gang.
After almost a year of weekend and day leave from prison, authorities decided Sanoussi was ready to be released into the community on a more permanent basis. That decision came despite opposition from police, who said Mohammed Sanoussi is a man who is easily influenced by his peers and could fall into a life of crime once more.
There have also been reports that the Brothers for Life gang had been meeting in the house Sanoussi will return to and that his two brothers have links to the gang.
But Sanoussi’s lawyer Ruth Layton says her client is a changed man.
In the wake of Judge Christie’s decision to grant Sanoussi’s parole, Layton told the media: “He is utterly changed since the teenager who committed that offence”.
“I feel confident that he has matured … and he’s shown cooperation at every stage,” she said.
But that hasn’t stopped many Australians from feeling uneasy about Sanoussi’s release.
Those who remember the rapes and how the successive attacks transfixed the media and disgusted the community, can’t help but feel wary and anxious.