Brenden Hills, Linda Simalis, Mark Morri
The Sunday Telegraph
October 18 2015
A MAN arrested for allegedly gang raping a 16-year-old girl had already been freed on just $200 bail over the rape of a 15-year-old.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was granted bail in Parramatta Local Court for the alleged indecent assault and rape of his girlfriend’s younger sister in western Sydney in 2013.
He was released despite opposition by prosecutors.
Months later he was charged over the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl.
The case, details of which cannot be revealed because of the man’s looming trials on both charges, is set to trigger yet another political brawl over NSW bail laws.
With the community already outraged over this week’s GoPro rape case arrests, Shadow Attorney General Paul Lynch called on the NSW government to ask for the Director of Public Prosecutions to review the decision to grant bail.
“This government’s approach to bail laws is at best confused and haphazard,” he said.
“The attorney general must demand the DPP urgently review the facts and circumstances around this case.”
However, she said the granting of bail had been strengthened by “tough new bail laws which came into effect in January 2015”.
“In particular, we introduced a ‘show cause’ test for serious offences, including aggravated sexual assault against a person under 16, which requires the accused to justify why they should be given bail,” Ms Upton said.
Earlier this week a teenage boy and four men were charged with the alleged gang rape of a teenage girl at a house party at St Clair in May while being filmed with a GoPro camera.
Police believe the girl was raped by up to four males and that eight people may have been in the room at the time.
Police Transport Command officers found the camera while searching a car near Campbelltown train station during an investigation into graffiti.
It was handed to the Child Abuse Squad and police spent the next four months investigating.
The incident had not been reported to police but officers were able to track down the girl and later identify her alleged attackers via tattoos seen on the video.
Last Wednesday, police arrested four men and a teenage boy. Tristan Carlyle-Watson, 25, was charged with concealing an indictable offence.
Ayden Devereux and Kurt Stevenson, both 24, Andrew Waters, 23, and the 17-year-old were charged aggravated sexual assault in company.
Deveraux was also charged with filming the alleged rape. All are due to face court next month.
