13 Facts About Bilal Skaf

Bilal Skaf was originally sentenced to 55 years with a 40-year non-parole period, but that was modified several times upon appeal.

Bilal Skaf attended Strathfield South High School in Enfield, New South Wales and left school at 14 and worked as a spray painter before his father used his own good employment record to get his son on the State Rail payroll.

In 2002, nine men, including Bilal Skaf, were sentenced to a total of more than 240 years' jail.

Bilal Skaf was engaged at the time of his arrest and although his fiancee stood by him during his trial, she ended their engagement soon after his conviction.

Since he was first charged in November 2000, Bilal Skaf has remained unrepentant.

In 2002, Mustapha Bilal Skaf was accused of offering a bribe to a prison officer.

Bilal Skaf allegedly phoned the maximum security facility at 1:30 pm on Wednesday, 22 September 2002, and was put through to a duty officer.

Bilal Skaf immediately called the number from the calling number display and Mustapha Skaf answered.

Bilal Skaf was barred from visiting all NSW jails for a period of two years.

In 2019, his brother Mohammed Bilal Skaf began his application for release to parole where Margaret Cunneen SC, who prosecuted the men together with their lawyer Omar Juweinat urged that he be granted parole.

In October 2020, his younger brother Hadi Bilal Skaf, who was 10 months old at the time of the attacks, was charged with driving under the influence of cocaine.

Again in June 2021, Hadi Bilal Skaf was charged with allegedly supplying drugs and dealing with proceeds of crime.

Bilal Skaf began his sentence in Sydney's Long Bay Correctional Centre but was moved to maximum security in Goulburn Gaol after prison officers uncovered plans by fellow inmates to inject him with HIV-infected blood.