Men face court over alleged ‘Tinder’ gang rape

A woman was concerned to find three men she did not know in her apartment, after meeting up with another man from dating app Tinder, a court has been told.

The three uninvited men then took turns rapping the woman amid her repeated calls for them to stop, a jury heard as a trial began in Sydney’s Downing Center District Court on Tuesday.

Before the alleged rape in the early hours of April 16, 2022, the men had attended an NRL game at Olympic Park, the court was told.

Omar El-Sayed, 26, Rami Katlan, 26 and Mohammed Ali, 22, were all charged with two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of aggravated sexual assault in company.

Adam Ahamd Kabbout, 27 was charged with six counts of aggravated sexual assault in company.

They have all pleaded not guilty.

The woman began speaking to Kabbout on Tinder in October 2021 when she was 23-years-old, the jury heard.

Crown prosecutor Danny Boyle said that during conversations on Tinder and later Snapchat, Kabbout asked whether the woman was interested in having sex with multiple men, which she said she was not.

Kabbout encouraged the woman to take part in group sex with the men, to which she replied, “tempting but maybe not”, Mr Boyle said

But after meeting Kabbout at her Belmore apartment the woman emerged from taking a shower to find El-Sayed, Katlan and Ali also in her home.

The woman spoke to Kabbout in the bedroom, telling him, “Who are they? I don’t want them here.”

It is the prosecution case that the three men then entered the bedroom one by one and raped the woman, during which she repeatedly told them to stop.

While it is not alleged Kabbout had sex with the woman himself, the Crown alleges he encouraged the other men to do so.

“In that way, he is liable as a participant for what the other accused did,” Mr Boyle told the court.

Police later recovered a used condom from the woman’s bathroom matching El-Sayed’s DNA, despite his initial claims to police that he did not have sex with the woman and had not been in the apartment at all.

El-Sayed would later admit to having sex with the woman, but both he and Ali told police that it was with her consent.

Kabbout’s lawyer April Francis told the jury the woman had “positively misled police” about her communications with Kabbout and the nature of their relationship.

Ms Francis said it was in dispute the woman had not agreed to Kabbout inviting the other men to the apartment.

“She led the accused to believe that she was interested in sexual activity of this kind,” Ms Francis said.

“That explains why the topic was raised… before the accused arrives at her premises.”

Ms Francis also told the court that before and after the alleged rape, the woman conducted internet searches for “very graphic sexual material” relating to a single female in a group setting with a number of men.

The trial is expected to run for four weeks.

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