Posted on 11/06/2005 11:10:51 AM PST by dennisw
THREE brothers have lost a bid to have their sentences reduced for the 2002 gang rape of two teenage girls in Sydney.
The three brothers, who can only be identified as MSK, MMK and MAK, were convicted of gang raping the girls at their family's Ashfield home, in Sydney's inner west. MMK, 19, and 27-year-old MSK, are each serving 22-year jail terms for raping the teenagers in July 2002.
MAK, 25, was jailed for 16 years.
In dismissing the sentence appeals of all three men in the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal, Justice Michael Grove criticised an argument put forward on behalf of MSK.
Justice Grove said it was "inappropriate" for a lawyer to have described MSK as a "cultural time bomb" and blame the rapes on his upbringing in Pakistan.
He dismissed the argument that MSK had raped the girls because he had traditional views of women from his upbringing as a Muslim in Pakistan. "If it 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," Justice Grove said.
"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."
All three men also appealed on the ground that the crime was not the worst of its kind.
But the court disagreed and said the sentencing judge had not imposed the maximum life sentence despite him being correct in saying it fell within the worst kind of rape.
"It was well within the scope of finding, as his honour did, that they fell within the category of worst offences of rape, although ... he treated the appellants more leniently than by application of the maximum prescribed sentence," Justice Grove said.
Another brother, MRK, 20, who is serving 10 years, and a friend, RS, who committed suicide in jail, were also convicted of gang raping the girls.
The brothers have been involved in a string of gang rapes at the family home.
The victims of the July 2002 attack, identified only as HG and LS, were aged 16 and 17 at the time.
Lock 'em up and throw away the key. They raped Australian girls, not their own kind.
they need to give them life are death because they will never change-and expel their families
Auf with their eads, mate
And the parents were where?
If the parents had knowledge of these acts, they too should be in jail for a long time.
I wonder how long they'll last in an Australian jail before they, too, "commit suicide."
Semper Fi
why is it that in their culture if it was their sister or mother that was raped it would be an insult on their family and they would have to be killed to restore their honour, but at the same time they say it is okay to rape, because it is part of the culture from where they come from, so my question is how is it that there are any of these people from this culture, because by their way of thinking they rape them than send them home to be killed by their family, shouldn't be any left by now
This is about Australia.
There was a very big deal, in Denmark, about muslims raping non-muslim infidels.
Of course they justify raping infidels, as being less than human.
"Auf with their eads, mate"
First, the lil eads, Mate - then the big 'uns.
Guess he should have stayed in Pakistan if he wanted to go around raping women without being prosecuted.
Drown them in pigs blood.
"they need to give them life are death because they will never change-and expel their families"
Definitely! The entire family has to be given an incentive for keeping their familiy in line. Crime by one results in permanent expulsion of all.
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