Gang rapist Mohammed Skaf’s ex-lover avoids prison for intimidation, drug charges

The former girlfriend of one of Australia’s worst gang rapist, Mohammed Skaf, clutched her $3000 bag as she avoided prison for intimidating her former lover and smuggling drugs into prison. Alexandra Mastropetros faced Bankstown Local Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to stalking and intimidating Skaf, and smuggling $100,000 worth of illicit drugs into prison. Wearing a white tank top, black pants and stiletto heels, the 32-year-old carried a $3000 Yves Saint Laurent handbag as she faced court alongside her husband. Skaf was the ringleader of a spate of notorious gang rapes in Sydney’s southwest in 2000, and was jailed alongside his brother Bilal and several others. When he was freed after almost 22 years behind bars, Skaf and Mastropetros began their short-lived relationship. According to court documents, the 32-year-old started her relationship with Skaf in January 2023 which lasted just a few months. She has admitted to intimidating Skaf in Greenacre in May last year, calling him during a heated phone call to “highly suggest” he withdraw a statement. “The accused and the victim were in an intimate relationship between January 2023 and March 2023,” court documents said. “On May 16, the victim provided a statement to police in relation to being extorted for $20,000.” Court documents revealed Mastropetros was “well known” to Skaf, and was well aware of his associates. After giving a statement to police, Skaf received a phone call from a private number with Mastropetros on the other end of the line. He recorded the conversation. “Why are you calling me to withdraw a statement, it’s got nothing to do with you,” Skaf said, according to court documents. But Mastropetros said she wasn’t telling him to withdraw it, just that she “highly suggests” he did. “That’s snitching, you don’t go snitching,” she said. “You’ve been in jail for 21 years. You should know the go.” Mastropetros said to stop “barking you hayawem” (which means animal in Arabic). She then said he was the “biggest snitch” in Sydney. “If you don’t go and withdraw this f***ing statement … I promise you by oath of allah and I’m going to go and f*** up your life,” she said. The phone call ended with Mastropetros telling Skaf to go “f**k yourself”. Court documents said Skaf feared for his life and believed Mastropetros was going to send someone to his house to cause serious harm to either him or his family. She also admitted to an unrelated charge of supplying a prohibited drug after she was caught with 4.86g of methamphetamine, totalling to about $100,000 worth. According to court documents, police found drug-filled balloons in her Louis Vuitton handbag when they stopped her rental car as she drove into Hunter Correctional Centre at Cessnock in January. She was visiting her ex-fiance at the time, and told police she had purchased 100 buprenorphine strips from a Punchbowl service station to help her calm down. The strips she told police she paid $240 for were later identified to have a value of $1000 per strip, worth $100,000 in total inside prison. Mastropetros told police she had visited the prison for three months. “When police stated that she must be well versed in the procedures and restrictions for visiting then, the accused did not respond,” court documents said. Magistrate Glenn Walsh said there was “significant criminality” in the 33-year-old’s offending. “It must of course be viewed as objectively serious, to deal with it otherwise would be to ignore what is relevant in criminal circles,” he said. He told the court using the word “dog” or “snitch” to Skaf would have “engendered real fear” in him. The magistrate acknowledged Mastropetros had suffered severe PTSD and was influenced by anti-social peers to undertake criminal behaviour. While he said the offending crossed the threshold to go to prison, he said Mastropetros was not an appropriate person to put in full-time custody. She was sentenced to an Intensive Corrections Order for 18 months, which is a term of imprisonment to be served in the community. Mr Walsh warned Mastropetros that if she doesn’t comply with the orders, she will be sent to prison. An apprehended violence order is also in place for two years against Skaf.