This story was published
4 YEARS AGO JULY 03, 2010
SALLY Sharp* does not mince her words. Ten years after a group of 14 young males gang raped her in a horrific six-hour ordeal she still wishes they were dead.
"I just wish they were all dead, run over by a bus," she says.
But these days she can't be bothered wasting her energy thinking too much about them. Life has moved on, she is happy and positive, she has a great job which she loves, she has relationships and a wonderfully supportive family
Remember When: Crown Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen,The woman who fought back for the victims.
Sydney's Occupied Territories Bilal Skaf Gang Rapist member known as "H" to be released on Parole... NOT LONG ENOUGH!!! Deport the Prick
Sally, now 29, was one of at least six victims who fell prey to the evil gang of Bilal Skaf, which terrorised western Sydney in August of the year 2000, gang raping young women in what turned out to be racist attacks.
Their victims were lured from trains, shopping centres and public places. The attacks were calculated and well planned and involved up to 14 males, aged 13 to 18 years, all of Lebanese origin. As well as being raped, Sally was subjected to racist taunts, she was called an "Aussie pig", told she was going to get it "Leb style" and asked if "Leb c*** tasted better than Aussie c***".
It has been a long road to recovery for the victims but most of them have triumphed. Of the 11 young men convicted of attacking them, all but one remain in jail. One was released on parole three years ago and another, who was released on parole in May last year, had his parole revoked in March after failing drug tests.
But, for the victims, life is best lived without giving any of the men much thought. Some would prefer not to talk about it at all. At least two are now married with young children. One of them, who spent several years living overseas, says that era has now been erased from her life and she has so much to look forward to with her family and children that she does not look backwards.
Others say they have emerged winners and one, who also has children now, has even forgiven her attackers.
Sally will never do that. She says there is "no way" she would ever forgive any of the 14 who defiled her on the evening of August 30, 2000. She is not one of those capable of such extraordinary forgiveness.
But she doesn't need to be. After an ordeal through the courts which dragged on for seven years and which saw two of her alleged attackers granted retrials and one ultimately found not guilty, she has emerged stronger and more determined.
It wasn't an easy road to travel. The ongoing court cases badly affected her study, she was scared to go out and she was locking herself away in the house.
She remembers the exact moment when she decided that the men who raped her would not break her spirit. It was the day she was meant to go back to court to give evidence in the retrial of one of her alleged attackers.
She did not want to do it. She had been in court several times and it had been a harrowing experience. She didn't want to go back there. It was too draining, emotionally and physically.
"That was seven years after it [the attacks]. It was enough. That was exactly the moment I decided I wasn't going back," Sally says.
"It seemed like every time I got myself to a place where I wanted to do something with the rest of my life, this [court] would come back and kick me up the bum and I would dwell on it."
Sally says that half of her is glad she went to police and to court, the other half wonders if it was worth it.
The court system, she says, is "riddled with flaws". Her advice for rape victims is to do what they think is right and not to let other people talk them into going to court.
Another victim, Debbie Greenwood*, is now 28.
She is satisfied with the court and criminal justice system response to her case and she would do it all over again if she had to in order to ensure her rapists got what they deserved.
Debbie now has a long-term relationship and a stable job and says she tries not to think about that night too often. She now exercises caution when she goes out at night and says she only goes out with her boyfriend to ensure that she is safe.
"Before it happened I used to think no one would ever attack me. Clearly when it happened I thought I was going to die that night . . . that I wasn't as invincible as I thought," she remembers.
"Pretty much for me I feel that justice is served in my case anyway. I think they got what they deserved for the crimes they committed against me. I'd do it all again. I'd go back [to court] as many times as I had to, I'd go back time and time again."
Sally remains tough and determined. She now has a job which she loves and she is able to catch a train again. Sally was lured from a train to her fate and for a long time found it difficult to get on a train.
But she is pragmatic. She has to get to work and get around somehow. Besides, avoiding trains would mean her attackers had won.
And she doesn't think about the attack as often. Once, she would think about it all the time, every day. Now it's less frequent, as are the flashbacks and nightmares. She has conquered her own devils and is proud of it.
* Names changed to protect the identities of victims
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