'Each sentence was framed so that there could be some hope of release but, in my mind, the protection of the community was more important than early release. Africa It was because the police had given up fighting back. Australia's law defines rape as "unlawful sexual act with another person by force; without their consent." This was evidence of incriminating phone calls between him and Chami. However, the website of the Voice of Lebanon radio station in Melbourne, mentioned important information, accompanied by two pictures of the dead, and a summary of the information that the offender was a friend of the assassinated Tony Yazbek and she has a 10-year-old daughter, who lives with her mothers grandmother, and that the late Sarkis Abboud was a victim of his presence with his friend. At that time, according to the radio. 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. 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The way we have been connecting is through Slack, getting visuals out on social media to attract peoples attention, and direct people in a very structured way as to how they can help, she explains. 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. The Pursuit of Justice chronicles Finnane's legal career and lifelong campaigning for for social justice, particularly the treatment of those disadvantaged by the legal system. For most of his career, Finnane was not well known outside legal circles but that changed rapidly and forever when he presided over the Skaf rape trials. politics What made this trial startlingly different from most rape trials of which I was aware were four matters: 1. It is across the street from the Lebanese central bank in Beirut, the Associated Press reported. 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). By this time she was hysterical. I thought she was a particularly brave young woman who refused to give in to any of these suggestions. Counsel for each of the other accused addressed the jury then. Lebanese organized crime syndicates generally are active . This trial concluded on 11 July 2002 and concerned events of 12 August 2000, only two nights after the attacks on the two girls from Chatswood. Her evidence was very powerful. The blast flattened the neighbourhoods closest to the port, such as Gemmayze and Mar Mikhael tourist hotspots and the heart of Beiruts famous nightlife, now as haunting as Stalingrad. However, the victims' descriptions of the other men who attacked them were quite vague, as could be expected. The young girl who was the victim of these rapes could identify Mohammed Skaf, whom she knew well. "Lebanese media often help enshrine the idea that men can get away with these crimes," said Hayat Mirshad, co-director at Fe-Male, a local feminist group. In the third trial, the accused were Bilal Skaf, Mohammed Skaf, Mohammed Ghanem and Mahmoud Chami. 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. And these guys are well armed. Little is known regarding the health and lifestyle behaviours of Australians of Lebanese ethnicity. Killing and shooting and illegal activity have become part of daily life. The Ones That Didnt Make It: Australia-Bound Refugees Languish in Indonesia, Circle Sentencing: Alternative Justice in Australia, Wildfires Scorch Australia As Temperatures Reach Record Highs, Nelson Mandelas Extraordinary Life: An Interactive Timeline, How Did Gaddafi Die? They are also willing to purchase from Chinese importers and to wholesale to other groups, such as Romanian and Lebanese dealers. So the problem we have now in Sydney is a ramification of what has been going on in Lebanon.. Ghanem was convicted of various offences at this trial but was later acquitted by direction of the Court of Criminal Appeal, which ruled that certain evidence tendered by the Crown, and allowed by me to be given in the trial, should not have been admitted. Lebanon's national archives are located in a building that houses two ministries. In the early 1980s, as a young detective I was attached to the Drug Squad at . The main activities of Arab gangs in Australia are narcotics and weapons trafficking, extortion, prostitution, car theft and money laundering. 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. Skaf clearly was the leader. Who could believe anyone would consent to being assaulted, robbed, abused and threatened? Single expats: 1.630 USD. Among them is one Australian, with as many as 300,000 made homeless. It was obviously carefully planned and skilfully executed. The crime was comparable to Lebanese gang rapes in Sydney. years have drawn attention to Lebanese crime and to police searches for suspects 'of Middle Eastern appearance'.10 Lebanese Muslim clerics such as Sheik Taj el-Din al Al-Hilali, known as the mufti or spiritual leader of Australia's Muslims and imam of the Sunni Mosque in Lakemba,11 or Sheikh Abdul Salam Zoud, are often in the news in . But below the surface of this lower-middle class success story is a Middle Eastern ghetto terrorized by members of its community. However, when the van finally stopped, it was at a park in Greenacre. Relatives have legally . 2023 TIME USA, LLC. If you live in Melbourne, you are at moderate risk of theft and breaking. Single expats: 1.773 USD. Five computers were stolen along with the servers, Lebanese TV channel LBCI reported. sport The four men in this other car all raped this unfortunate young girl, who was then hosed down until she was soaking wet and forced out of the car that she was in near the Catholic Club at Lidcombe. Before we can solve it we need to understand it, he says, and Im not sure we do.. In 1996, 72 per cent of Lebanese in Australia lived in Sydney. The main difference is that Greeks & Italians want to live in Australia under Australian laws and love our way of life, they mix with Australian's, they want their kids to and they great people. I consider my sentences imposed on the members of this gang were warranted. That sentence was modified several times upon appeal. Latest news A mobile phone was then used by someone in this group to secure the attendance of another group who arrived in a car. Lebanon.. , updated 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". The trial for these ofences was particularly horrifying. New South Wales (NSW) state police have arrested 31 people, including three teenagers, after a turf war between two prominent drug gangs [File: David Gray/Reuters] By Ian Lloyd Neubauer. 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. Crime families exchange gunfire and trade narcotics with apparent immunity; arrestees in Bankstown are 60 times more likely to use heroin than those in other parts in Australia. Australian Lebanese families. Lebanon's murder and theft crimes have increased by 144 percent amid the ongoing national crisis compared to the same period last year, according to a study conducted by the Beirut-based . I cannot recall any other evidence being presented by him or on his behalf. 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. 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. This meant that the Crown could seek my consent to cross-examine him to show that he was a man of bad character. The Ryan-inspired OCR had just six crimes. Without Bilal Skaf leading them, perhaps they will come to see that there is a way forward. Lebanese Crime, Official Cowardice In Australia. Mobile phone technology was used on each occasion to coordinate the attacks, which were well planned and carried out with determination by young men, one as young as fourteen, the oldest being Bilal Skaf at twenty-one years of age. The identity of the four men in the red van has never properly been revealed. Many of the rapists have never been identified and police fear there were more victims who did not come forward. Bilal Skaf, however, elected to give evidence. Within these neighbourhoods lies the ravaged home of award-winning Lebanese-Australian journalist Rania Abouzeid. 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. The assailants broke the door and its lock into the archive room. The earth-shattering explosion, caused by the unsafe storage of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate at Beiruts port, damaged every part of the city of 2 million people. Skaf and the other two men made their acquaintance by speaking to them politely in the shopping centre. Subsequent migration was steady until an influx occurred surrounding the Arab . Both Mohammed Skaf and the victim went and saw her mother and got her consent as the trip was going to be on a Saturday night. The two victims were schoolgirls who were wandering around a shopping centre at Chatswood on 10 August 2000 about nine o'clock at night. Indictable offenses are heard in a superior court in the presences of a jury. The law provides that a discount of up to 25 per cent is appropriate to be given if the plea of guilty is given at an early time. For thousands of Lebanese Australians residing in Lebanon, the opportunity to return to Australia at any point provides a psychological safety net. . Lebanon has a population of approximately 4.6 million, with 18 recognised distinct religious . investment Crime 0 120 46.11 Crime rates in Australia Safety in Australia Contributors: 7102 Last update: February 2023 These data are based on perceptions of visitors of this website in the past 3 years. 26 May . Lebanon was still politically dysfunctional and rivalries had left it without a president for most of 2016. They were quite friendly at school and he suggested that she come with him on a drive to go and look at the Harbour Bridge on a Saturday. Worldwide pandemic lockdowns have only made it easier for Lebanese expats to coordinate. The damage is extensive, like all the other apartments in the area. One of the dead was Sarkis Abboud, 61 years old, and the second was his friend, Tony Yazbek, two years younger. Its just a mess. Abouzeid was in Melbourne at the time of the blast, relying on relatives to send photos of the destruction. Corona entertainment 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. I considered that I should say these words because it was important that the jury and anyone listening to the trial, including the accused, have a full realisation that a woman has to do nothing more than refuse consent. In Germany these clans mostly settled in Berlin, Bremen and Essen where they became involved in narcotics trafficking, weapons trafficking, extortion, prostitution, illegal gambling, car theft, money laundering and armed robbery. Diaspora aid to Lebanon is meticulously processed to avoid funds falling into the hands of government officials and intermediaries accused of corruption, with support being sent directly to vetted NGOs, such as the Lebanese Red Cross. And given the history of government efforts to obtain information on race, Im not even sure its something we should be doing. Instead of taking her to the Harbour Bridge, Mohammed Skaf drove her to a park in Greenacre. I wont be packing up., For Melki, staying in Lebanon isnt simply about a place of residence, its about justice. To my mind, the community deserved to be protected from Bilal Skaf for many years. [7], Last edited on 24 February 2023, at 19:36, Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Rising crime in northern Bekaa Valley hurting Hezbollah", "THE WORLD'S LARGEST DRUG FIELD -- (BY DENNIS EISENBERG) (Extension of Remarks - July 27, 1990)", "Schattenseiten der Einwanderergesellschaft - Brutale Familienbande", "Miri-Clan: Eine Familie, tief verstrickt ins Verbrechen - DIE WELT", "Terrorist and Organized Crime Groups in the Tri-Border Area of South America", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lebanese_mafia&oldid=1141378811, This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 19:36. But to this day Finnane is regularly asked about the Skaf case, sometimes by strangers, at social functions and on other unexpected occasions. The Beqaa Valley, a fertile valley in east Lebanon and one of the country's most important farming regions, is also known for being one of the most important cannabis cultivating regions in the Middle East. News 33. He was the gang boss and the organiser of everything that happened. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. He told them they could expect there to be media publicity and that they should ignore anything they read outside court. Surprised by Lebanese officials audaciously asking for Australian money for personal reasons, Bartlem refused to process their requests further. 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. Frequently, whilst sitting in the dock, he clicked his fingers towards his counsel, summoning him over. He did not believe he would be caught. Praying for the injured, missing & dead, she wrote on Twitter. A 44-year-old woman killed two Lebanese residing in Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria in the southeast of Australia. As for their killing, the police learned about it from citizens who told them that they had found Aboud quarreling in a side road in one of the citys suburbs. 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. Thats whats so disturbing., Lebanese-born educator Keysar Trad believes criminality in the community is a by-product of overly strict parents who expect their children to excel at school, and racism in the classroom and playground that prevents them from doing so. As the French president Emmanuel Macron toured the devastated scenes in Beirut on Thursday, a Lebanese woman could be heard urging the president to not give money to the corrupt government. Macron replied, I guarantee you, this aid will not go to corrupt hands.. 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. Because the two complainants could only give vague descriptions of Hajeid and Ghanem, their counsel cross-examined the complainants to establish doubts about their identification. Its just amazing to see how much traction it got, Diana Abbas, director of Impact Lebanon, says. 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. 'It seemed clear to me that these men were sending out a message to the community in Sydney,' he writes. 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