Sydney gang rapist Mohammed Skaf could be released on parole within days, after the New South Wales government said it would not oppose a decision to free him.
Skaf, 38, has spent two decades in prison and been denied parole several times since 2018 when he was first eligible for release.
He was sentenced to a maximum of 22 years, 11 months in jail, after he and his older brother Bilal Skaf led a gang of more than a dozen other men who raped at least six girls, some as young as 14, in 2000.
In a parole review hearing on Friday, State Parole Authority chairman David Frearson SC asked crown solicitor Joanna Davidson to clarify the state’s position regarding Skaf’s parole, as he said its submissions to the authority were “sitting on the fence”.
Davidson confirmed the state would not oppose parole subject to strict conditions, including electronic monitoring.
Frearson has reserved his decision until Skaf completes a 44-hour NSW corrective services program designed to teach “self-help mechanisms” that can overcome “poor self-control and impulsivity”.
Skaf told Frearson during the hearing that he was doing three sessions of the Real Understanding of Self-Help program a week, and he expected to complete it within a week.
Frearson said he would publish his decision once he was notified the program was completed.
“What you need to do in the meantime is to be very, very careful to make sure you stay out of trouble,” he told Skaf.
Frearson earlier characterised Skaf’s offending as “clearly horrendous”, but said the authority had to determine the best way to reintegrate him into the community as “everybody gets out eventually”.
One of the two paths open to Skaf, Frearson said, had been shut off by the Covid-19 pandemic: gradual reintegration through external leave from prison.
NSW corrective services stopped all external leave programs on 24 June, to prevent the spread of the virus in the prison system.
Davidson agreed with Frearson that the pandemic had limited the authority’s options, saying the state supported the alternative of parole with “very serious conditions” attached.
No further details about the proposed parole conditions – other than the mandatory use of electronic monitoring – were discussed in Friday’s hearing.
In November 2020, the authority formed an intention to refuse Skaf parole and ordered a review hearing.
In April, the authority adjourned the matter as it requested advice from the Serious Offenders Review Council (SORC) and community corrections. The authority cannot make a parole order without the advice of the SORC.
Frearson said on Friday the SORC and community corrections had both recommended parole.
• Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
