A six-hour gang rape of teenage girl in a car allegedly at the hands of four youths has been described by senior police as a degrading crime that “beggars belief.”
A 14-year-old boy was the youngest of the group who allegedly took part in the sexual assault across southwestern Sydney in December 2024.
“It beggars belief that, in this day and age, men would think to act this way towards a girl over a six-hour period ... to act together and encourage each other and degrade the victim in the way that they did,” Sex Crimes Squad Commander Superintendent Jayne Doherty told reporters on Wednesday.
“Their age is concerning, but this shouldn’t be accepted at any age.
The two eldest teens, now aged 18 and 19, will face court for the first time on Wednesday after being arrested on Tuesday with help from riot squad officers.
Police allege the incident was partially captured on video and shared among the teens.
“They had no right to act like this towards a woman,” Doherty said.
“There is no culture or ethnicity that would ever condone action like this.”
The girl was initially approached by a 16-year-old boy, unknown to her, at a shopping centre in Liverpool on a Sunday evening.
He followed her to her car and she reluctantly let him inside before he began sexually assaulting her, police allege.
The boy asked to be driven to a park in a nearby suburb, which the victim agreed to, on the understanding that he would get out of the car.
At the park, two other males got into the car and allegedly also sexually assaulted her.
A fourth male arrived in another car and the assaults continued as the girl was driven around for six hours.
About 11.30 pm, when the men left the victim in her car, she contacted a friend who took her to a police station to report the incident.
Detectives arrested a 16-year-old boy days after the rape and charged him with 19 sexual assault offences and five sexual touching offences.
The 14-year-old was arrested shortly after in Miller and charged with 10 offences, including seven aggravated sexual assault offences.
Both were refused bail and appeared at a children’s court in December.
Six months of investigations led detectives to raid homes in Sadlier and Heckenberg on Tuesday, arresting two other teenagers.
Doherty hailed “the strength of the victim.”
“She was able to give a very detailed statement over a number of days, which gave us a number of opportunities to gather evidence,” she said.
“She’s very distraught [now] ... fortunately, she’s supported by family, who are very strong and supportive of her.”
The gruesome incident has recalled one of Sydney’s most notorious gang rapes more than two decades ago when Bilal Skaf, then 18, and a gang of males, many in their teens, were found responsible for six rapes in 2000.
They lured teenage girls, some as young as 14, away from public places with the promise of smoking cannabis.
Police Minister Yasmin Catley said the Skaf case came to mind when she learned about the latest incident.
“The work of the police has been absolutely enormous,” she told reporters.
“I want to congratulate (the sex crimes unit) on the speed and professionalism and the wraparound services they’ve provided to that young woman.”
