A Middle Eastern gang member has admitted robbing and raping a stranger in a Melbourne park before going on a day-long crime spree with a violent Samoan thug.
Khoder El-Hawli, 20, and Justin Amituanai, 22, made gang signs at each other as they appeared in County Court via video link on Monday from Ravenhall Correctional and Barwon Prison, the Herald Sun reported.
El-Hawli pleaded guilty to multiple rape offences against a random 30-year-old woman who he walked up behind in a park in Melbourne’s west in November 2023 while armed with a machete.
He first demanded her phone and ordered her to transfer money from her bank account, saying “I’m a gangster” when she asked why he was robbing her. Then he dragged her into some bushes, told her to take her pants off, and when his victim “froze in terror” said “don’t you suck dick, haven’t you done this before?”
He then threatened to cut the woman’s legs off and said “I hope you don’t have AIDS or anything” before raping her.
The court her his victim was “scarred for life” and so traumatised she had since moved out of Victoria to “escape the horror she had been subjected to”.
El-Hawli and Amituanai then went on a terrifying rampage beginning on the morning of November 13 when they carjacked a 44-year-old man in Melton but were unable to take the vehicle because it was a manual, then carjacked a 30-year-old man in Melton South and drove off in his Toyota Corolla.
They dumped that car in Heidelberg and stole a another 30-year-old man’s Porsche Macan at knifepoint along with his phone and a luxury watch. El-Hawli cut the victim four times after he refused to hand over the keys.
The pair then terrorised two women at a factory in Altona North, demanding cash at knifepoint before breaking in and stealing cash, jewellery, bank cards and a buddha statue.
The same evening they saw two teenage boys walking near a reserve in Hoppers Crossing and robbed them, stabbing one 16-year-old with the machete and leaving him with a punctured lung when he refused to give up his phone.
El-Hawli pleaded guilty to armed robbery and aggravated burglary charges over the crime spree, while Amituanai pleaded guilty to armed robbery and aggravated carjacking.
Both will be sentenced at a later date.
Header image: Justin Amituanai (Facebook)
