The girl was then driven around the suburb, repeatedly sexually assaulted by numerous men and hosed down before she was dumped at a train station. The initial trial judge, Michael Finnane, branded the rapes "worse than murder". Bilal Skaf in Goulburn jail, photographed during a visit with his mother. Mohammed Skaf was originally jailed for 31 years but his sentence was reduced on appeal to 22 years with a non-parole period of 18 years. The non-parole period expired last year, but the parole authority rejected his plea for release.

Loading Mohammed is now applying for parole for a second time within 12 months on the basis that his initial refusal was manifestly unjust. Following a brief hearing last week, it will hand down a decision on his future in August. Branded a "menace to a civilised society", Mohammed continued to blame his victims after being convicted. "It appears that he still blames the victims for his offending, has no victim empathy and refuses to take responsibility for his actions," says the initial review by the Serious Offenders Review Council, seen by The Sun-Herald.

This lack of remorse, the report continues, is "one of the reasons he has been assessed as a medium to high risk of sex offending again in the next five years". Skaf was moved in 2002 from Juvenile Justice to Goulburn's Supermax where he received an A2 security classification, meaning he "should at all times be confined by a secure physical barrier". He has taken longer than the typical inmate to progress through security ratings and has remained at the higher end for most of his term in prison – something his solicitor, high-profile Sydney lawyer Omar Juweinat, believes is unfair. "There must be a point in a prisoner's life where enough time is enough time. Mr Skaf is well beyond his non-parole period, has undertaken every conceivable course and was diagnosed with a very serious illness," Mr Juweinat told The Sun-Herald. It can be revealed that Skaf received treatment for Hodgkin's disease in a prisoners' ward of the Prince of Wales Hospital.

"He was handcuffed to a hospital bed for almost 12 months and his family were forbidden access to him," Mr Juweinat said. His time in adult prison has been marked by trouble, and he has moved in and out of protective custody on many occasions. He has been "troublesome" and at times violent in detention, the Serious Offenders Review Council report said. Like Bilal, who threatened "Australians" if all Muslims were not released from Corrective Services custody, Mohammed has threatened prison officers. He has also posed problems to other prisoners – in 2013, he poured a pot of boiling water on a Muslim inmate in what Corrective Services deems a "premeditated serious assault ... on racial grounds". Skaf has also been the victim of assaults, suffering a broken eye socket from an attack when he was transferred to Goulburn in 2016 and assaulted during a transfer at Sydney's Parklea Correctional Centre.

In 2009, he was moved to Lithgow Correctional Centre after a mobile phone was found in the cell he and his brother shared. Trouble with contraband continued; in 2016, a "number of contraband items" including tobacco, USBs and porn were found in his cell. He was also found with matches in his cell after a 2015 ban on tobacco in NSW prisons. In 2017, he was reprimanded for sending mail with a false name. Inmates can apply for parole annually. Skaf initially applied for parole last year.

"Where’s the fairness? Where’s the justice? Why should I remain in prison and not be granted parole because [the commissioner] refuses to progress me 'due to my high notoriety'?" he wrote after his application was rejected, his fury evident in a hand-written note to Corrective Services. "At some point, the government and the public must anticipate that this man will be released into the community," Mr Juweinat said. "He is no different from any other person who is to be considered for parole. He has, quite literally, grown up within the custodial setting and is to a large degree institutionalised after having been incarcerated since a juvenile. "For that reason, the community would significantly benefit from having Mr Skaf on a lengthy period of parole to allow him to reintegrate back into society." He's not the only one who thinks so.

"I think it's time he got out," the former Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen – who put the gang behind bars – said of Skaf last year. "He's done his time." "The authority refused parole to the offender on 2 February, 2018. The Serious Offender's Review Council did not consider the offender's release to parole as appropriate because of concerns about safety risks to the community," a State Parole Authority spokeswoman told The Sun-Herald. Bilal Skaf is imprisoned in Goulburn's Supermax and will be eligible for parole in 2033. In 2013, fellow gang rapist Mohamed Sanoussi was released on parole. Mohamed Ghanem, dubbed the gang's "enthusiastic lieutenant" was released on parole in 2015 but was caught dealing ice earlier this year. NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman was contacted for comment.