Only two years for a string of vicious rapes?

Lots of women will suffer because of this irresponsible sentencing decision

A sex predator who terrorised a north Queensland town was jailed last week after a five-year merry-go-round of court appearances, trials and appeals. Serial rapist Daniel Cris Phillips, 23, was 16 when he committed his first rape in 2000 in Innisfail where he lived with his family, who run one of Australia's largest barramundi farms.

His predatory behaviour did not come to light until November 2001, when a girl, 15, told police he had raped her in a vacant farmhouse on one of his parents' Innisfail properties. After investigating the attack, police said he had allegedly raped four other teenage girls. Phillips, whose appearance earned him the nickname of "Caveman" or "Cavie", was charged with five counts of rape in September 2002 and, despite objections, was released on bail a month later.

While on bail in May 2003, Phillips allegedly attempted to rape an 18-year-old girl at his parents' home at Burbank in Brisbane. The woman, now 22, told The Sunday Mail: "I had no idea he was on bail for rape. "(After) I got very antisocial ... I stopped eating and looking after myself ... everyone I met was a potential rapist." Phillips' mother stopped the alleged attack. He was charged with attempted rape and was returned to custody awaiting trial for it and the Innisfail rapes.

In August 2003, despite objections from prosecutors, the Cairns Supreme Court released him on conditional bail. In March 2004 he was convicted of three counts of rape, assault with intent to rape and two counts of unlawful carnal knowledge. He was acquitted of two other sex offence charges, but jailed for a total of 12 years, reduced to 10 years on appeal. Judge Peter White said Phillips showed "callous disregard for the rights of the young women, going to the absolute integrity of their persons".

Former detective Sean Luke, who resigned last year after more than 20 years in the police force, said Phillips might have ended up killing his victims if he had not been stopped. "He never believed he did anything wrong, never showed any remorse for what he did to those girls. And then when he was released on bail, he raped again. Nothing seemed to stop him," said Mr Luke.

In March 2006, Phillips appealed to the High Court of Australia, which ordered retrials for the six charges, relating to five victims, on which he had been convicted. Three of his alleged victims decided against going through the court process again. In May 2006, while on bail waiting for the retrials, Phillips raped a 16-year-old girl twice at his family's Burbank home. In the Rockhampton District Court last week, Phillips pleaded guilty to that rape.

He also received a sentence for the 2000 rape of a 16-year-old girl at his family's property in Innisfail. A jury found him guilty of that attack this year.

Judge Michael Shanahan said it was clear both women had suffered "significant difficulties" as a result of the rapes. In sentencing Phillips to six years' jail, Judge Shanahan said he took into account a psychiatric report which said Phillips had suffered from a genetic disorder from birth which had a "psychological and physical impact". "You have seemed. to have come to some realisation of the seriousness of your conduct and are perhaps showing some signs of remorse."

Phillips will be eligible to apply for parole in August 2009.

The above article by Paula Doneman appeared in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on September 30, 2007





Australian citizenship test now in operation

Still a bit of fine-tuning to go, I suspect. I am a history buff and yet I would not have a clue about the years in which nine Australians nabbed Nobel prizes

Ronald Dela Cruz has spent the past week cramming for a test that made him more nervous than any other he has sat before. Although he'd experienced many complicated and lengthy exams in order to obtain an IT degree, this test was for something different, and to Mr Dela Cruz, for something more important - citizenship.

For the 31-year-old, Australian citizenship would demonstrate his commitment to his home of the past two years, and the nation's commitment to him. His head, he said, had been buzzing with recently learned dates ranging from the 1956 Melbourne Olympics to the years in which nine Australians nabbed Nobel prizes. "I was so nervous, especially with all the dates of the Nobel laureates, I tried to squeeze in as much as I could," he said. Yesterday his efforts were rewarded when he became a citizen by passing the Federal Government's controversial new citizenship test with a perfect score of 20 from as many questions.

Mr Dela Cruz, from Chile, and 25 other hopefuls from across Victoria and Brisbane were the first to sit the multiple-choice exam, which included questions covering some of Australia's history, traditions, geography and government. To pass the 45-minute exam, prospective citizens need to answer at least 12 questions correctly, including three mandatory questions about Australian values. Of the 26 who sat the test yesterday at Department of Immigration and Citizenship offices in Victoria and Queensland, all but one person passed. Twelve obtained a perfect score.

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said the computer-based test, in English, was designed to make sure new citizens had a basic knowledge of English and understood the "privilege" of being Australian. "The reason the Government introduced the citizenship test was that we believe the great achievement of Australia has been to balance diversity and integration," he said. Mr Andrews said most Australians would be able to pass the test - and if not, it would be a failing of the country's educational system, not the immigration department.

However, the test has received widespread criticism - including a Democrats video posted on internet site YouTube that mocks the exam. Yesterday Australian Democrats leader Lyn Allison said the test promoted exclusion. "I think the test is about excluding people and getting votes from people who want to see immigrants to this country as 'other' people who are not worthy of the same rights that other Australians have."

Premier John Brumby yesterday broke ranks with Federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd to criticise the test. He said the Federal Government could make better use of taxpayer money by spending the money on education, such as more English classes.

South African migrant Marius van Eeden, his wife Mariette and son Gavin, 20, all sat and passed the test yesterday. Marius van Eeden said he believed it was important to test applicants on their knowledge of Australia, although he joked that "some guys in Canberra" wouldn't know some of the answers. Alejandro Ruvilar, who sat and passed the test yesterday, said it was a good idea and that all citizens should have a basic knowledge of Australian history. The 29-year-old Geelong resident believed some people would be disadvantaged by sitting the test in English.

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Islamic cleric preaching 'hate'

MELBOURNE Islamic cleric Mohammed Omran has been accused by his estranged son-in-law of preaching extremism and hatred in a bitter war of words following his separation from Sheik Omran's daughter. The accusations have been levelled by 26-year-old Ali Kassae, a former member of Sheik Omran's fundamentalist Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammah association, who was married to Sheik Omran's daughter, Zaynab, until they separated in August last year.

Mr Kassae claims he has been prevented from seeing his children since the split, and has been threatened and abused by other members of Sheik Omran's group. He also accuses Sheik Omran's organisation of inciting violent attacks on people who disagree with them. Mr Kassae, who moved to Australia from his native Syria as a nine-year-old, blames the break-up of his seven-year marriage on the extremism of Sheik Omran and his group. "I couldn't stand their attitude and beliefs," Mr Kassae said. "I had left that culture behind. I just wanted to live an Australian life. Then I was forced into the culture again."

Mr Kassae said he and other group members were "taught to hate" by being shown violent propaganda videos about conflicts involving Muslims in places such as Palestine. One DVD, shown to The Australian, which Mr Kassae said was distributed among members of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammah, declares: "You should hate them as they hate you, invade them as they invade you, fight them as they fight you. Whoever dies will be granted the mercy of God and paradise. Jews have no place in Palestine. Jews shouldn't be there. Jews should die. We should proclaim jihad until they all die, until every single one of them is dead."

A spokesman for Sheik Omran yesterday said the cleric completely rejected Mr Kassae's statements, claiming his estranged son-in-law had a "mental illness". Sheik Omran's organisation has been under close scrutiny by ASIO for years and several of its members are known to have undergone training with the militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba in Pakistan. In 2000, members of the group were raided by NSW and Australian Federal Police. Mr Kassae said he was visiting a fellow Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammah member in Sydney's Wiley Park, when armed police burst in. "There was an AK-47 loaded next to me with an 80-round magazine," Mr Kassae said. "The house was full of weapons. It was like they were preparing for war." The police seized an AK-47 assault rifle, handguns, shotguns and grenades, according to Mr Kassae.

In an affidavit filed in the Federal Magistrates Court in Melbourne in November, Zaynab Omran cited her husband's paranoia about ASIO among the reasons for their marriage break-up. "He thought that I was in contact with ASIO or the CIA about him, and thought people were out to get him," the affidavit reads. "He would leave pornography magazines everywhere, and told me that this was to confuse ASIO or the CIA if they ever raided the house."

Mr Kassae was a troubled street punk who had dabbled in drugs and had run-ins with the police when he was recruited into Sheik Omran's group by his brother-in-law, an Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammah member. Sheik Omran, who knew Mr Kassae's mother, proposed that the 17-year-old marry his daughter, Zaynab, then aged just 15. "I was ripped out of my life and put in this life," Mr Kassae said. "I was just a kid trying to grow up. I wasn't into it for the religion. "I was a child. I looked at them as role models."

The newlyweds went to live with Sheik Omran's family in Melbourne, where Mr Kassae worked on construction sites before setting up his own mobile phone business. A reference from one employer described him as "always reliable, punctual and respectful".

Mr Kassae said that Sheik Omran put him in charge of "security" for his organisation, which involved looking after visiting sheiks from overseas, and helping to organise the weekend bush camps where Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammah members would engage in paintball skirmishes, described by one participant as "jihad training". By Mr Kassae's account, his life was totally controlled by Sheik Omran and his group. "I wasn't meant to have any friends but them, I couldn't talk to anybody but them, I couldn't do anything without their permission. "It was like, 'You want to be part of this family - this is how it's got to be. This is who you've got to be now, and this is what you've got to do.' Basically, they wanted me to be a sheep - he's the shepherd and I'm the sheep."

Mr Kassae claimed he became increasingly disturbed by Sheik Omran's puritanical interpretation of Islam. "I couldn't hack their understanding of Islamic teaching," he said. "Their teaching was inappropriate. It was like they were God's angels given a key to paradise. So who are we? Slaves from hell?"

Mr Kassae said the group was paranoid about anyone they suspected of talking to ASIO, including Sydney man Mamdouh Habib, who was believed by some members to be an ASIO informant. Mr Kassae has told Mr Habib's lawyer that a meeting was held in Lakemba in Sydney's southwest in 2000 where it was agreed to "do something about this guy (or) he will destroy us". A group of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammah members later physically attacked Mr Habib outside the association's Haldon Street prayer room. Mr Habib was treated at Bankstown hospital for cuts and bruising to his head. Mr Habib was arrested as a suspected terrorist in Pakistan in late 2001 and held by the US at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba until his release without charge in February 2005.

In November 2005, Mr Kassae was accused by fellow Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammah members of being an informant, after several of the group's followers were arrested in ASIO raids in Sydney and charged with terrorism-related offences. Ostracised within the group and with his marriage failing, Mr Kassae said he became depressed and took to drugs again. In May last year, after an amphetamines binge, he was admitted to the mental health unit of the St George hospital, in Sydney's south, where he spent a month being treated for drug-induced psychosis. His wife cites his mental illness as the key reason for their break-up, stating in her affidavit: "There were many incidents leading up to our separation, including him disappearing for several days without explanation, and being extremely paranoid about things that were going on." She also claims he was abusive towards her and their two children, now aged five years and 15 months. In November, a federal magistrate granted Zaynab Omran sole parental responsibility.

A spokesman for Sheik Omran said yesterday that Mr Kassae's drug abuse and mental problems were the reason for his marriage failing. "We appeal to Ali to seek medical help for his mental illness. We totally refute and reject the statements he has made," the spokesman said. Mr Kassae claimed that since leaving the organisation, he had been threatened numerous times after members spread rumours that he was working for ASIO or the CIA.

In February, Mr Kassae was attacked by two men in the southwest Sydney suburb of Belmore and stabbed in the back. He was treated in the acute care facility of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. A NSW police report on the incident said Mr Kassae had been accused by his assailants of spying for ASIO. No one has been charged over the incident. "Since leaving (the organisation), I've committed an even bigger crime. I've been judged - I'm a disbeliever and I should be taken apart," Mr Kassae said. "All I wanted was a future, a wife and a family and a home. And they took that away from me."

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History lost in new school charter

History regularly reveals the failure of Leftist ideas so Leftist teachers want as little as possible to do with it

A NEW primary-school charter has ditched history as a core subject in favour of the broader "social education", which includes geography, the environment and civics. The Australian Primary Principals Association yesterday launched its final version of the charter, which is designed to drop courses such as bicycle safety and animal care and focus on the key areas of English, maths, science and, now, social education. A draft version published in August named history as the fourth area, but after consultation with principals and teachers in government, independent and Catholic schools, it was included in social education, which as well as geography and the environment will include other cultures and places, and how decisions are made in Australia.

APPA president Leonie Trimper said the association was not entirely happy with the name "social education" and was working on a different title. But she said it was not intended to mimic the high school subject of Studies of Society and Environment, which states and territories have agreed to drop in favour of traditional disciplines. "We had feedback that history was far too narrow and conjured images of students just learning dates," she said. "The emphasis is on children learning about their identity and stories about significant Australian events and people, but the thought was we needed to have some geography to do that, and people also wanted to include the term environment."

The federal Government has spearheaded a campaign to make Australian history compulsory in Years 9 and 10. Associate professor of history and politics at the University of Wollongong Gregory Melleuish said primary schools risked repeating the mistakes of SOSE in high schools, and history should remain a distinct subject. "The danger with social studies is that it becomes vague and wishy-washy, and another way of indoctrinating kids with the fashions of the day," he said. "If you include history under social education, then it will get submerged under things like climate change and ecology and all the '-ies' of Western society. "History can be taught in a relatively objective fashion; some of these other things I just wonder how objectively you can teach them." Professor Melleuish said one way of engaging young students in history was to teach it through the lives of exemplary people.

But History Teachers Association of Australia president Nick Ewbank said it was important for primary students to be taught a range of content areas and skills so it was understandable that it might not be viable to have history as a distinct subject. "History is an important part but it's not the only part of a sensible humanities curriculum and I can understand why the primary principals have done it this way," he said.

The charter also broadens the purpose of science to help "children to make informed decisions about the environment and their health and well-being". The draft charter was criticised for underplaying the importance of the arts, music and sport in primary schools and the final version emphasises that the core "is not intended to imply that other learning areas are unimportant". The charter is a response to the curriculum in primary schools becoming cluttered with non-essential courses in social problems traditionally the province of families and the community. It will be given to federal, state and territory governments and the APPA will lobby education ministers to adopt it at their next meeting.

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