Alleged Sydney teen subjected to six-hour gang rape ordeal
*Content warning: This article may contain details readers could find distressing*
NSW detectives used covert strategies to gather evidence against two teens they allege were involved in the vicious gang rape of a Sydney teen.
The 17-year-old alleged victim of a horrific, six-hours-long gang rape was doing what any teenage girl might do in the lead-up to Christmas.
It was a Sunday afternoon in December last year and she was shopping at Westfield Liverpool — one of the biggest shopping centres in Sydney's southwest and one that would've been buzzing with shoppers.
Acting police commissioner Peter Thurtell told news.com.au that covert strategies to identify the roles of each alleged offender were put in place, 'both physical and electronic surveillance was used extensively'.
'The moment officers knew they could throw the book at them, arrests were made,' Mr Thurtell said.
'If there is anyone who is a champion of public and community safety in this regard it is the head of the Sex Crimes Squad Detective Superintendent Jane Dougherty and her team.'
Mr Thurtell said the 'horrific crime of this nature' drives our investigators to be meticulous in gathering evidence in order to get an 'irrefutable conviction'.
'Our thoughts are with the victim and her family who will undoubtedly have to live with this sickening attack for the rest of their lives.
Detectives have worked tirelessly and done an outstanding job bringing these people before the courts.'
About 5.30pm, she was approached by a 16-year-old boy who was 'charismatic' and began a 'friendly conversation' with her that 'wasn't about having sex', police say.
'He was a charismatic young man talking to a young girl of similar age. There wasn't any idea at that point ... of where this was going to end up,' Superintendent Jayne Doherty told reporters on Tuesday.
The young girl did not know him, but police allege she 'reluctantly' allowed him into her car.
The pair drove eight minutes west to quiet Wheat Park in Sadlier, a local soccer pitch surrounded by suburban homes on all sides.
Supt Doherty said the teen 'agreed to sit and talk' but drove to the park 'feeling that was the only way to get him out of the car'.
Once there, police say, her life was changed forever.
The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is accused of raping the teen in her vehicle, filming certain parts of the rape and making a video call to his friends.
Police claim her ordeal was not over there. They say two more teenage boys got into the car and allegedly sexually assaulted the girl.
They were allegedly soon joined by a fourth man who arrived in another car. The four teens — one of whom is aged just 14 — allegedly took control of the girl's car and raped her during a twisted and 'erratic' joyride.
'(The group allegedly) took control of the vehicle and drove her in her own car around the suburbs of Sadleir and Miller,' Supt Doherty said.
'They (allegedly) drove rather erratically throughout the time and continued to degrade and assault this victim as they were driving around.'
Police allege that during this time, the group of males 'acted together' and created 'fear on the victim', 'degrading her while the others offended against her'.
'At times, there was (allegedly) more than one person offending against this poor girl,' Supt Doherty said.
The entire ordeal lasted six hours, ending long after dark about 11.30pm. Once free, the 'very distraught' teenage girl contacted a friend and reported what had happened to police.
The four teenage boys have been charged with the sexual assault. They are aged 14, 16, 18 and 19.
The 16-year-old boy was arrested at Condell Park five days after the alleged rape last year. He was charged with 24 offences including nine charges of sexual intercourse without consent, eight charges of aggravated sex assault-offender in company with other person/s, two of aggravated sexual assault in company and inflict actual bodily harm, and five of sexually touch another person without consent.
Detectives also arrested a 14-year-old boy the same day.
He was charged with 10 offences including seven counts of aggravated sex assault-offender in company with other person/s, aggravated sexual assault in company and inflict actual bodily harm, aggravated sexually touch another person, and sexually touch another person without consent.
The 18-year-old and 19-year-old alleged offenders were arrested on Tuesday morning.
Dramatic police footage captured the dawn arrest of the eldest of the alleged group, Adam Abdul-Hamid, in Heckenberg.
The teen was taken to Liverpool Police Station and charged with five counts of aggravated sex assault-offender in company with other persons.
The two younger alleged offenders were refused bail and appeared before a children's court in December last year. Detectives continued to investigate the incident and, after extensive inquiries, searched homes at Sadleir and Heckenberg this week.
A neighbour told news.com.au Mr Abdul-Karim moved the family home nine years ago.
She said that her son, who is a similar age, played with Mr Abdul-Karim growing up.
'Then they both got older and the parents basically told him to stop coming over,' she said.
She said Mr Abdul-Karim was into motorcycles and a big family who lived in the home.
'We've just tried to keep our distance mostly in recent years, but he's always said hello to us,' she said.
Arrest footage showed the man's family members swarming the police and shouting as he was ushered out of the house.
'What have you done to him?' one screamed as police walked through the front yard.
A woman could also be heard shouting: 'Shut your mouth, don't say a word' in Arabic.
Police and community react to alleged gang rape
'The (alleged) victim in this case did nothing wrong. It beggars belief that in this day and age that men would (allegedly) think to act this way towards a girl,' Supt Doherty said.
'And to (allegedly) act not just instantaneously, but over a six-hour period, continuing to act together and encourage each other and degrade the victim in the way that they did.
'That type of thinking in any person is just unbelievable and unacceptable to any standards.'
She said the young age of the alleged offenders was 'concerning' and described the alleged assault as 'predetermined'.
'It beggars belief that someone as young as 14 could (allegedly) have these beliefs and actions,' she said.
'They've (allegedly) gone over six hours — they haven't stopped at a point during that six hours and said, this is wrong, to any of their co-offenders.'
So brutal was the alleged offending, that seasoned investigators were left 'shocked', Supt Doherty said.
'It's horrific,' she said.
NSW Premier, Chris Minns said: 'This is an unimaginable ordeal for this young woman, the allegations are just abhorrent. Those responsible must face the full force of the law.'
'I commend the bravery of the young woman who came forward and the tireless work of NSW Police in bringing these alleged offenders into custody.
'To that end, there is nothing more important here than getting justice for this young woman.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Had to wait': TikToker's horror ING ordeal
A Melbourne woman was left without money for two days after ING suspended her account for what they deemed to be 'suspicious activity'. In an ordeal that has left her switching banks, Katie McMaster posted to TikTok after being left without access to her card and unable to withdraw money due to a flag on her account. She said she was initially sent an email on Tuesday, telling her that her accounts had been suspended and she needed to verify her identity. Ms McMaster called ING to verify the email was legit, where she was told she would need to wait up to two days for the fraud team to get back to her. 'They said I need to wait for the fraud team to contact me. I can't speak to them, they wouldn't transfer me to them, I had to wait for them to email me,' she said in the video. After two days – and calling ING multiple times – Ms McMaster finally had her accounts unsuspended. She said the fraud team told her there was just 'one person' managing the fraud inbox. Speaking to Ms McMaster said the 'suspicious activity' turned out to be a transfer with her friend for payment of a Usher ticket. 'I don't know if my TikTok helped, but suddenly, they moved pretty quickly,' she said. Ms McMaster said the verification process as a whole did not feel secure. 'They're sending you emails but then when you ring them and you're on hold, they say ING will never ask you to provide verification via email,' she said. She also said she did not have the option to go into a branch, as there are none in Melbourne. 'It was frustrating just waiting, I probably wouldn't have minded so much if they kept me in the loop,' she said. Ms McMaster said she is now moving banks after being with ING for more than a decade due to the ordeal, with many users on TikTok commenting about similar experiences. A spokeswoman for ING said the bank does place temporary 'holds' on an account if the bank detects 'suspicious transactions'. 'This often involves temporarily placing a hold on a customer's account until we can confirm the transactions with the customer,' she said. 'We recognise that temporarily pausing activity on an account can impact customers, so we always check they have access to essential funds, ensuring they are not placed in financial hardship.'
SBS Australia
4 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Age verification trial proves under-16s social media ban is viable
Age verification trial proves under-16s social media ban is viable Published 20 June 2025, 8:38 am Early results from an Australian Government trial show it is technically possible to stop under-16s from accessing social media by using tools like facial recognition to verify age online. But experts warn there's still a long way to go before the planned teen social media ban comes into effect this December.
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Hardest time in my life': Guy Sebastian's former manager Titus Day made accounting ‘mistakes' after his mother became ill
Guy Sebastian's former manager 'made mistakes' in accounting towards the end of the pair's tumultuous relationship because his mother had become ill, the period marking the 'hardest time in (his) life'. Titus Emanuel Day is standing trial for allegedly embezzling $640,000 of Mr Sebastian's royalties and performance fees, including the alleged failure to remit $187,000 to Mr Sebastian for performance fees as a support act for Swift on her 2013 Red tour of Australia and other corporate gigs and performances. Mr Day has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of embezzlement as a clerk or servant and one count of attempting to dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception. He has denied doing anything fraudulent or dishonest. Mr Day took the stand to give evidence-in-chief on Friday, telling the court how issues had begun to 'creep in' to his management company, 6 Degrees, as a result of pressure sparked by his mother's declining health around 2016. He told the court his mother was diagnosed with advanced Alzheimer's dementia around 2015. By the time she came to live with he and his family in 2016 she was so ill she was in a 'zombie state', prompting his wife, Courtney, to effectively step aside from her work at the company to care for his mother. The court was told his wife played a 'critical' role at 6 Degrees, with her duties ranging across creative work such as video clips, music production, songwriting production and dealing with record labels: when she left, Mr Day had to 'pick up all the slack' and delegate work to other staff. Another high level employee also had to step aside to care for Mr Day's mother at one point. 'Personally this was probably the hardest time in my life,' Mr Day told the court. He said all of his clients 'suffered' as a result, and that he'd made some accounting 'mistakes' during this period and could no longer be with clients on tours. 'Because my attention was taken away, but also spread thin, it affected all my clients - all my clients suffered,' Mr Day told the court. 'My accounting slipped, I wasn't able to send statements or invoices…I made mistakes in transactions and banking descriptions.' He spoke of one example where he accidentally paid Mr Sebastian money from another of his clients, Nigerian-Australian singer Timomatic, and then paid Timomatic money from Mr Sebastian. '(I) made a lot of mistakes on banking descriptions…a lot of issues started to creep into the company because of the pressure,' Mr Day said. Mr Day's barrister, Thomas Woods, earlier told the court that there would be 'no dispute' that on some occasions his client should have transferred money onto Mr Sebastian 'but did not'. 'For many of the charges, the real question is not going to be whether my client failed to transfer the money to Sebastian but whether his failure to do that was criminal,' Mr Woods said. The former manager's evidence-in-chief regarding the 'mistakes' mentioned on Friday is expected to continue next week. Mr Day has denied doing anything fraudulent or dishonest. In terms of business growth, Mr Day told the court 2016 was the company's busiest and most successful time, having taken on a range of clients across music, sports and media. He said it was an 'extremely busy' time and he was personally receiving more than 300 emails per day, acknowledging he had 'a lot less' time to devote to Mr Sebastian as opposed to the early years of their agreement. The 'really big shift' in the pair's relationship Mr Sebastian moved over to Mr Day's management company 6 Degrees three years after winning Australian Idol, having worked with him previously at Mr Day's former agency, 22 Management. No formal agreement was signed, but the court was told their agreement was based on Mr Sebastian's former arrangement with 22 Management. The Battle Scars singer, who was once so close with Mr Day he considered them to be a 'a family of sorts', earlier claimed he'd sent several emails to Mr Day around 2016 over concerns with their relationship, telling the court there was a 'really big shift' between them around that time. In particular Mr Sebastian claimed documents, statements and invoices 'were not being sent anymore'. 'That side of it and then some cultural issues that were happening as well and just a general shift in the service I was being provided,' Mr Sebastian previously told the court. 'I understand (6 Degrees) were getting busier as a company and that the list of clients had grown … that was starting to have some real ramifications on my business and personally as well. 'I was trying really hard to remedy these issues.' Mr Sebastian told Mr Day that he was leaving his management in 2017, the court was previously told. Mr Sebastian launched Federal Court proceedings against Mr Day the following year. He in turn filed a counterclaim.
