NSW: Legal eagles at odds with political and community leaders
SYDNEY, Aug 16 AAP - Legal experts were today at odds with political and communityleaders over the 55-year jail sentence handed down to the leader of a vicious pack ofgang rapists.
The 20-year-old man will be eligible for parole in 2040 for his 21 offences committedagainst the victims, then aged between 16 and 18, in Sydney's west over a three-week periodin August 2000.
He cannot be named until his brother is also sentenced in relation to two of the rapes.
In sentencing yesterday, Sydney District Court Judge Michael Finnane said the prisonerand his gang treated their victims "much like wild animals treat prey they had just killed".
But University of Sydney criminologist Professor Mark Findlay said the sentence wasdisproportionate.
"The sentence is as shocking as the crime," Prof Findlay said.
"This is obviously an extreme case but it's still longer than any of the sentenceshanded down for murder.
"Proportionality is an issue in all sentencing ... so that our justice system makes sense."
John North, an executive member of the Law Council of Australia, said proportionalityneeded to be retained in the NSW criminal justice system.
"It would be very difficult to tell the parents of the girls who are murdered thata 20-year sentence was sufficient if 40-year sentences are being handed down where peopleare not murdered," he said.
NSW Premier Bob Carr said the tough sentence would stand as a major deterrent.
"Justice has been served," he said in a statement.
"It is also a vindication of the bravery of the young women who gave evidence.
"This is the sort of sentence the community expects, the community wants tough sentencesin cases of wanton violent crime."
Australian Lebanese Association president Philip Rizk said the community was happythe full treatment of the law had been handed down.
"If you commit a crime beyond imaginable human behaviour, you should be put away andthe key thrown away," he told the Daily Telegraph.
NSW Opposition Leader John Brogden said it was about time the courts handed down atough sentence for gang rape.
"I commend the judge on his decision, we support it strongly," he told reporters inwestern Sydney.
Mr Brogden said he hoped the ringleader would rot in jail for his horrible crime.
"This guy deserves to rot in jail and I hope he does," he said.
"But I do say that we need greater consistency from the courts when it comes to theissue of sentencing particularly on gang rapes."
AAP rcg/mk/arb/las/de
KEYWORD: GANG RAPE SECOND DAYLEAD
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