Australia: Islamic upbringing no excuse for rape

[White Boy]

10

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...7-11-2005_pg7_4

Islamic upbringing no excuse for rape'

SYDNEY: An Australian court dismissed appeals on Friday from three Pakistani brothers convicted of gang rape, with a judge describing a defence claim that their Muslim background contributed to the crime as insulting.

New South Wales state appeal court judge Michael Grove refused to reduce the sentences of the three brothers over the July 2002 rapes of two teenage girls at the family home in Sydney's suburbs.

Appeal lawyers for 27-year-old MSK, one of the brothers, argued that their client's strict Muslim upbringing in Pakistan meant he had traditional views about women that made him a cultural time bomb in Australia and contributed to the rapes.

The judge


said it was an inappropriate argument. "
t was intended to suggest that differences might be observed in behaviour in the respective cultures of Pakistan and Australia. There was and is not the slightest basis for concluding other than that in both places, all women are entitled to respect and safety from sexual assault, he told the court. The expression 'cultural time bomb' was to say the least inappropriate and inapt - it would understandably be regarded as offensive by those who fell within the scope of its insult.

MAK (25) is serving 16 years for the rapes, while his siblings MMK (19) and MSK were both jailed for 22 years after being convicted last year. afp

 

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Gang rapists' jail terms increased
April 5, 2006 - 1:11PM

Two convicted gang rapists have had their jail terms increased with fresh sentences over a series of 2002 attacks in Sydney.

The brothers - who can only be referred to as MSK and MAK - are already serving lengthy jail terms for the violent gang rape of two girls in July 2002.

NSW Supreme Court Justice Peter Hidden today added a minimum of five years to MSK's sentence and a minimum two extra years to his brother's jail term for two other rapes, also committed in 2002.

Their younger brother, MMK, who was 15 at the time, was also handed a 12-month sentence, to be served concurrently and in juvenile detent
ion, for having consensual sex with an underage girl on the night of one of the rapes.

The rapes involved two girls, TW and CH, aged 14 and 13, at the brother's Ashf
ield home in June 2002.

Justice Hidden rejected evidence from MSK, who is now 27, that his cultural background influenced his actions.

He also dismissed submissions that MSK, the eldest of the brothers, suffered from auditory hallucinations and that "satanic voices" told him to rape the girls.

"(MSK) is prepared to manipulate the system in any way he can to avoid facing the consequences of his crimes," Justice Hidden told the court.
"He can be in no doubt that the way he treated these two women was utterly unacceptable."

MSK will now serve 28 years with a non-parole period of 22 years for the four rapes.

He will be first eligible for parole in August 2024.

MAK, now 26, will serve at least 14 years, with a maximum 19 years, and will b
e eligible for parole in July 2016.

Justice Hidden accepted MAK was remorseful and trying to come to terms with his crimes, that he had apologised to both victims and that he had favourable prospects of rehabilitation.

Justice Hidden also considered an i
ndecent assault on another 16-year-old girl, TA, in January 2002 when sentencing MAK.

MMK, who is 19 and will be transferred to an adult prison next year when he turns 21, did not have the balance of his sentence increased.

Justice Hidden sentenced him to 12 months jail, to be served concurrently in juvenile detention.

The sentence also took in charges of indecent and common assault against MSM, a 14-year-old girl, in November 2001.

MSK stared at the victim TW, 18, throughout sentencing, mouthing the words "I'm sorry".

As the three were led from the dock she stood and made a rude gesture.

"I've been waiting four years to do that," she said.


"F--k you, go to hell mate."

Outside court, TW said while the sentences were the most she could have hoped for, she was disappointed.

"This is something that I have to live with for the rest of my life, it's worse than getting a jail sentence I believe," she told reporters.

"This wasn't about culture, this was about abuse against women a
nd the fact that they had the nerve to bring in culture to begin with just astounds me."