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| Down Under |
| Rapist's culture defence rejected |
| 2006-04-05 |
| A CONVICTED Pakistan-born gang rapist who thought he had a right to rape two teenage girls because they were "promiscuous" would have known his cultural beliefs did not excuse his actions, a New South Wales court has ruled. In the NSW Supreme Court today, MSK, 27, and his brother MAK, 26, had their jail terms increased for the 2002 rapes of a girl, then aged 14, and a 13-year-old girl who can be identified only as TW and CH respectively. The two men and their younger brothers MMK, 19, and MRK, 21 – none of whom can be identified for legal reasons – are currently serving between 10 and 22 years for raping the girls at knifepoint. Appeals against their sentences heard last year failed. TW, who gestured angrily at the two men in court today, was raped by both MSK and MAK in a bedroom of their Ashfield home during an evening of drinking in June 2002. CH was also raped by MSK after having consensual sex with MMK, the youngest, at the home the following month. MSK submitted he did not believe his actions were wrong because the girls were "promiscuous", something considered unacceptable in his strict Muslim upbringing. But Justice Peter Hidden today rejected the argument that culture played a part in the attacks, saying MSK had visited Australia nine times, and had once lived here for 10 months. "He was no stranger to this country," Justice Hidden said. "He must have had sufficient exposure to the Australian way of life to be aware that the place occupied by women in the traditional culture of his area of origin is far removed from our social norms." He also dismissed MSK's claims "satanic" voices told him to rape the girls, describing him as a man "who is prepared to manipulate the system in any way he can to avoid facing the consequences of his crimes". MSK will now serve 28 years with a non-parole period of 22 years for the four rapes. He will be first eligible for parole in August 2024. MAK has now been jailed for at least 14 years, with a maximum 19 years, and will be eligible for parole in July 2016. Justice Hidden also considered an indecent assault on another 16-year-old girl, TA, in January 2002, when sentencing MAK. MMK was sentenced to 12 months for having consensual sex with CH, as well as on charges of common and indecent assault of a 14-year-old girl in November 2001. Because the sentence will be served concurrently with his present term, MMK will not spend any extra time in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2015. TW stood as the men were led from the dock, making a rude gesture. "I've been waiting four years to do that," she said. "I'm sorry," MSK said. "F**k you, go to hell mate," she replied. Outside court TW, now 18, said she was disappointed by the outcome. "This is something that I have to live with for the rest of my life; it's worse than getting a jail sentence," she said. "This wasn't about culture, this was about abuse against women." |
| Posted by:Oztralian |
| #11 BigEd, I'm not so silly as to think that the women locked in purdah experience it as an act of love. And any man that tried to do so to me would not long enjoy his manhood, difficult though I find even the idea of me acting violently. But the original intent of locking women away was always to protect the women of the harem (and their children) from the dangers of a violent world. In ancient times the harem was in the inner keep of the citadel, the safest part of the city. But even though the culture of Pakistan can charitably be described barbaric, and realistically as evil incarnate, the inchoate ideal is still that good men protect women from evil men. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-04-05 22:05 |
| #10 tw- Their culture says women must be protected from men with evil intentions to the point of locking them away in hidden purdah. Thus his culture's ideal is that women are protected by good men, and the abusers are by definition evil. I shudder to think about the women who live in the countries where that culture is the norm. In Pakistan, the "locals" attack Christians with impunity with the blessing of the local Mosque Imam. Religion of peace? Bull! Same God? No chance! |
| Posted by: BigEd 2006-04-05 15:54 |
| #9 Heh. Not only did the judge rule against them, he INCREASED their sentences! God bless the aussies, and I hope TW finds peace eventually. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2006-04-05 14:34 |
| #8 I agree with Zenster. Charles Napiers words should be on every courthouse and port of entry. Multiculturalism is fine and great but it is not an excuse for bad behavior and it must swing both ways and when in doubt the laws/culture of the home country MUST prevail. There many nations to choose from, if they don't like it perhaps Saudi Arabia or Pakistan will be more to their liking. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-04-05 12:26 |
| #7 I hope thes Lions of Islam like takin' it up the ass. They're lookin' at 22 years of it. |
| Posted by: mojo 2006-04-05 11:23 |
| #6 Close circut to all lawyers that represent these barbarians. It is officially a trend that the "cultural timebomb" is a losing defense strategy. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2006-04-05 11:20 |
| #5 I'll merely repost the wonderful Charles Napier quote someone here provided a while back. (Let me know if all of you get tired of it.) That an Aussie court has deemed it fit to look past a so-called "cultural defence" and impose lengthy sentences makes it all the more appropos. '"It is your custom to burn widows. We also have a custom. When men burn a woman alive, we take those men, tie a rope around their necks, and hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your national custom. And then we will follow ours.'" |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-04-05 11:19 |
| #4 He used culture as an excuse and was drinking???? Or am I misreading this? |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2006-04-05 10:23 |
| #3 Why don't they make acceptance of the wrong of one's act a condition for lenient treatment? |
| Posted by: Perfesser 2006-04-05 10:02 |
| #2 IIRC, this is actually the second string of mediatised gangrapes by muslim migrants in australai, the first one being done by a gang of lebaneses, and it was as sordid as this one, with even one slight terror sidenote (the main perp made bogus terror claims, threatening attacks in Australia from his cell, if "muslim prisoners were not released from aussie jails", which perfectly illustrate the mental imagery of theses "passive-aggressive" jihad boyz). I'm normally very shocked and disturbed by the sexual exploitation found in most jails, but I do hope theses animals, both the lebaneses and the pakistanis, will experience instant karma while serving their time; well, after all, unlike many european countries, muslims are not the ruling majority in the correction system there. I'll make an exception for them. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-04-05 08:58 |
| #1 Good. Their culture says women must be protected from men with evil intentions to the point of locking them away in hidden purdah. Thus his culture's ideal is that women are protected by good men, and the abusers are by definition evil. The fact that their culture is actually set up to abuse women on both the macro and micro scale, and all those defined as "not us" as well, doesn't change the ideal these gentlemen imbibed with their mothers' milk. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-04-05 08:56 |