Sydney [Australia], November 2: Four men involved in the gang rape of a terrified woman one of them met on Tinder will jointly spend almost two decades behind bars for their crimes.
The sexual assault occurred in April 2022 in the bedroom of the woman, who cannot be legally named, after she agreed to meet Adam Ahamd Kabbout, 26, who she found on the dating app.
After letting Kabbout into her home and having a shower, she found three other men she did not know in her living room at Belmore, in southwest Sydney.
Kabbout did not participate in the rape but encouraged his friends Omar El-Sayed, 25, Mohammed Ali, 22, and Rami Katlan, 26 to do so.
He gave directions while the others entered the room one at a time to sexually assault the woman over a terrifying 15-minute period.
At one point Katlan used his mobile phone to record a brief video of Ali raping the victim.
"OK, your loss," Kabbout said before he and the others left the house after the woman said she didn't want to continue.
The four men were sentenced at Downing Centre District Court on Friday by Judge Leonie Flannery who acknowledged the "devastating effects" the crimes had on the woman.
"She went along with it because she was scared," the judge said.
In a victim impact statement read to the judge in October, she described feeling constant distrust, fear and bitterness, and her nights were haunted by flashbacks of the rape.
"I'm scared of everything, I'm scared of the world, I'm scared of other people, I find danger in everything . no one understands what it truly means to have all the power taken from you," she said.
In September, a jury found the four men guilty of various sexual crimes.
As the facilitator, Kabbout was convicted of four counts of aggravated sexual assault in company.
In front of a courtroom filled with family members and other supporters of the four men, Judge Flannery said Kabbout's offending was less serious than the others because he had not actually engaged in the physical sexual assault.
However, because he was found guilty of four counts, he was sentenced to a maximum of six years and six months in jail.
His non-parole period of three years and three months was backdated to July 23, 2023 and will expire on October 22, 2026.
El-Sayed was sentenced to a maximum jail period of five years and two months for two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
His non-parole period of two years and seven months means he will be eligible to be released from prison on April 2, 2027.
Ali was also convicted of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent but because of his mental immaturity, he was only sentenced to four years and two months.
He received a 25-month non-parole period which will expire on October 2, 2026.
Judge Flannery found that Kabbout, El-Sayed and Ali knew the victim did not consent.
She found that Katlan did not have this knowledge but was reckless as to whether the woman wanted to have sex with him or not.
Because of this, he received a maximum jail sentence of 30 months after being convicted of a sole count of sexual intercourse without consent.
He will be eligible for parole after spending 15 months behind bars on March 1, 2027.
In sentencing the four men, Judge Flannery noted their youth at the time of the sexual assault, their mental distress while in custody and their lack of any prior criminal record.
Each had good prospects of rehabilitation and a low likelihood of reoffending, she said.
Both Kabbout and El-Sayed maintain their innocence.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
