Hadi Skaf, whose older brothers are notorious pack rapists Bilal and Mohammed Skaf, has been caught supplying drugs in Sydney
The youngest sibling of the notorious gang rapist Skaf brothers has apologised for ripping off a cocaine buyer he sold Panadol disguised as drugs.
Hadi Skaf claimed he had been deeply humiliated over publicity surrounding his drug dealing arrest, which had focused on the crimes of his brothers.
The 22-year-old labourer has had to bear the burden of his surname which will forever be linked to a series of gang rapes that shocked the nation when he was still just a toddler.
His older brothers Bilal and Mohammed were sentenced to decades-long terms for the rapes, committed in the city’s south western suburbs.
Mohammed was last week released on parole after 21 years in prison to live in the Skaf family home in south western Sydney, along with Hadi and their parents.
Magistrate Miranda Moody found Skaf was deeply remorseful for his own actions in a bungled dial-a-dealer operation, which were essentially crimes of dishonesty.
‘It was what you could call a bit of a low act,’ Ms Moody said of ripping off drug users.
‘There is no question that he is extremely sorry for what he has done.’
Publicity surrounding Hadi’s arrest and Mohammed’s release were tendered to Downing Centre Local Court court.
‘I note that he is the brother of Mohammed Skaf who has had some notoriety in this state and who has apparently been recently released from prison,’ Ms Moody said.
Ms Moody accepted Hadi had brought further shame on his parents, who had ‘endured so much in their lives’ and was himself suffering depression and anxiety, ‘which is not surprising’.
Hadi’s attempts at drug dealing were described as amateurish and had not harmed anyone other than financially.
His customer at first tried to get into the back of a police car being used to conduct surveillance on dealers selling drugs to drinkers in Sydney’s inner city.
And in a late twist to the case it was revealed on Thursday the substance Hadi had sold the woman did not even contain any prohibited drug.
His solicitor Mina Wassef said that fact reduced the objective seriousness of the offence, while a police prosecutor said it made no difference to the crime.
Hadi Skaf pleaded guilty to supplying a prohibited a drug – which wasn’t actually a prohibited drug – and dealing with the proceeds of crime. He was arrested after selling bags of white powder to a woman in Sydney’s inner city for $750
Notorious rapist Mohammed Skaf (pictured above) was released on parole last week after being granted parole with strict conditions including 24-hour electronic monitoring. He spent two decades in jail after being convicted for a series of terrifying rapes in Sydney in 2000
The sale of a substance promoted as cocaine is legally considered as supplying a prohibited drug, regardless of what the substance actually contains.
Hadi was at Mr Wassef’s office when the matter was first mentioned and was ordered by magistrate Miranda Moody to come into court, which meant facing television cameras and photographers.
Hadi came to the attention of police on June 12 when officers were conducting an operation targeting drug suppliers near Surry Hills pubs.
About 7.20pm police saw Hadi in the front passenger seat of a silver Toyota Corolla being driven by another man near the Dolphin Hotel. Hadi was using a navigation app on his mobile phone.
Hadi Skaf covered his face with his hand as he arrived at Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday morning for sentencing on drug charges
While police watched from an unmarked car parked on the corner of Crown and Fitzroy Streets, a woman tried three times to open the locked passenger-side back door.
The driver of the Corolla, which looked similar to the police vehicle, sounded his horn and the woman and her female friend followed the Toyota until it parked in a nearby bus lane.
According to a statement of facts tendered to court, Skaf wound down his window and the two women stood beside the door for less than two minutes before walking away.
When police pulled over the Corolla, Skaf told them the women were friends and one of them was paying him $70 she owed for an Uber fare.
When police saw two phones hidden under Skaf’s leg and asked him how many phones were in the vehicle he replied, ‘I don’t know, it’s my mum’s car.’
During a search the officers found $750 in the front pocket of Skaf’s hoodie along with small clear freezer-style plastic bags.
Police found a text message exchange when they examined the phone of a woman to whom Hadi Skaf sold what she thought was cocaine for $750. ‘Hello are you around Surry tonight? 3 please,’ the woman asked. ‘Yes send full address,’ was the response
While this was happening other police stopped the two women and found four similar bags containing white powder in the possession of one of them.
That woman’s phone contained a text message exchange which began, ‘Hello are you around Surry tonight? 3 please.’ That got the response: ‘yes send full address’.
Woman: ‘412 Crown St Surry Hills, the dolphin eta?’
Dealer: ‘yeah done see you in 24.’
Woman: ‘Getting 750 now.’
Skaf was arrested and when asked the names of his supposed friends said, ‘Jessica and Louie’.
‘This is not the name of [either woman], again supporting that the accused did not know the females and they had met for the purpose of supplying prohibited drugs,’ the statement of facts said.
When police searched Skaf’s phone they opened the Waze navigation app and asked why his recent searches included 412 Crown Street, Surry Hills.
Hadi Skaf is the youngest of Baria and Mustapha Skaf’s four children. The family lives together at Greenacre in Sydney’s south-west. Hadi is pictured outside court on Thursday
Mohammed Skaf (right) was released no October 6. Bilal Skaf (left) will be eligible for parole in 2033. He is serving a minimum term of 28 years with a maximum of 31
Skaf said he simply wanted to play poker machines. ‘The accused stated that he had googled “VIP Lounge to go for a slap”,’ the statement of facts said.
When shown a screenshot of the Crown Street address on the drug customer’s phone Skaf replied ‘no comment’.
Skaf pleaded guilty in Downing Centre Local Court on June 24 to supplying a prohibited drug and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Ms Moody took into account his age, guilty pleas, remorse and prospects for rehabilitation. She did not record a conviction and instead imposed an 18-month conditional release order.
Mohammed Skaf was released on parole on October 6 after the State Parole Authority allowed his release under strict conditions including 24-hour electronic monitoring.
Now 38, he was jailed for his part in a series of terrifying pack rapes committed in Sydney in 2000 when he was 17.
The rapes involved more than a dozen other Australian-Lebanese youths and young men led by Mohammed’s older brother Bilal.
One of the gang’s teen victims was raped at least 25 times by 14 attackers before she was hosed down and dumped at a train station.
The SPA determined freeing Mohammed at the end of his 23-year sentence in early 2024 without any conditions would have posed an unacceptable risk to society. He is pictured outside the Skaf family home at Greenacre two days after his release
During her six-hour ordeal the woman was called an ‘Aussie pig’, told she was going to get it ‘Leb-style’ and asked if ‘Leb c*** tasted better than Aussie c***’.
Weeks earlier, Mohammed lured another teenage girl to a park in Greenacre where she was pinned down and raped by Bilal and another man, while up to 12 other men watched on.
At the time of sentencing, Judge Michael Finnane described the rapes perpetrated by the Skafs as crimes normally only encountered ‘in the context of wartime atrocities’.
The SPA determined freeing Mohammed at the end of his 23-year sentence in early 2024 without any conditions would have posed an unacceptable risk to society.
‘This is the only opportunity to supervise a safe transition into the community in the small window of time that we have left,’ SPA Chairman David Frearson SC said in a statement.
Bilal Skaf, now 40, will be eligible for parole in 2033.
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