*** trigger warnings for Werribee gang-rape ***
The Herald Sun carried this story yesterday, bylined Anthony Dowsley and Kelvin Healey.
“Werribee sex DVD ringleader’s hate-filled rap song on web” (The title was “Sex bully taunts victim” yesterday.)
And the opening line? [emphasis is mine]
“A TEEN who posted a hate-filled rap about the Werribee sex DVD online has been failed by the system, an expert says.”
[I've now made a transcript of the rap lyrics, which is appended.]
“Sex DVD”? “SEX DVD”?!
The 2006 Werribee gang rapists – a dozen of them – lured a 17-year-old girl with an intellectual disability, raped her, abused her, urinated on her, set her on fire, and kicked her clothes into the river.
They caught the whole thing on tape, and edited it up. They badged it “Cunt The Movie – Pimp My Wife”, with this cover blurb :
“the movie is brought to you by the teenage kings of Werribee. No one messes with us. We only mess with them.”
And this is a “Sex DVD” in the eyes of the mainstream media.
They sold the DVD for $5 around their local community. Excerpts were also on Youtube.
Gack, it’s difficult to even be typing these words out.
The naughtiest boys in this gang were sentenced to 12- and 18-month youth supervision orders. Others received a 12-month probation order. It is reported that they “showed remorse” in court. All were supposed to receive sex offender “counselling”.
So what are they up to now? Here’s one of them [bleeps removed by me]:
In an expletive-riddled diatribe posted on a website under his nickname, the 19-year-old boasts the attack video was viewed more “than the 10 o’clock news“. [...] In the rap, the teen brags of his notoriety and vows to commit more violence.
“I hope it hurts to reminisce when you think about us Werribee kids, all things we did,” he sings.
The teen escaped jail over the crime but attacks “cunning judges“, saying they can all “get fucked”. [...]
The teenager also sings that the gang doesn’t need to be tested “because we proved we’re worthy” and that his “fame will never end”. The song, which refers to the victim by her first name, includes the lyrics: “You’re gunna to love cunt the movie”.
The teen and two other amateur rappers expose themselves as violent racists and boast about bashings.
“I split lips and fuck I hate nips,” is one of the rants. “We’re beyond saving,” they chant. “It’s Werribee until I’m locked up. Why don’t you go and find out what we done.”
Other lyrics suggest the Werribee crew think they are above the law and refer to the sexual assault.
.[...] a “music producer” involved with the rap showed no remorse, saying the victim enjoyed herself during the attack. “She said at court she had a good time that day,” he said. “She was a willing participant that day.
“Sex”. Some people still call this sex. And not just the rapists.
I just don’t know how to fight this aspect of rape culture. At the moment, I’m just going to keep documenting the worst examples I find. Because I can’t document them all.
~~~
Around the Traps
- news.com.au is carrying “Werribee DVD ringleader boasts of crime in web rap“, where “sex DVD” has been edited to “sex crime DVD”. But the article still doesn’t contain the word “rape” or “rapist”.
- The Telegraph calls it a “sex attack” throughout. Again, no “rape” or “rapist”. But at least they acknowledge it’s not “sex”.
- Dowsley has reported on this particular crime before, back in 2006. Back then, his article was headlined “Werribee DVD tryst twist”, and the article said that the DVD “showed sexual acts”.
~~~~
[Edited to add, 13 Apr 2009] Transcript
** Further trigger warnings apply **
I now have a transcript of most of the piece from the creator’s Myspace page. There are two (unidentified) male voices, as well as parts of various news programmes. I’ve marked unintelligible parts with empty square brackets.
[various news announcers]: Police say they’ve had enough of wild teenage parties in Melbourne suburbs … report on a group of teenagers terrorising their community, filming themselves as they did. The story caused outrage around the country today, but what you didn’t see was …
[music starts]
[male news announcer voice]: … attacking a taxi, bullying [drunks?], making and exploding bombs, and dropping flares on a sleeping homeless person…
[young man's voice]: You woulda heard a lotta shit bout me and my boys
What the fuck it’s like the media enjoys
making money off our reputation
But they can’t say shit with their creation
[ ] just half the story
Frustration
Ignoring the facts of the story
Cocksuckers reporting
About us like they fuckin know us
You don’t know us, you fuckin owe us
So fuckin blow us
Fucking throw us
a little rope [ ] cope
I gotta quote
This shit is cutthroat[background: female news announcer, unintelligible]
I hope it hurts to reminisce
When you thinkin back
Bout us Werribee kids
All the things we did
And ah yeah God forbid
That you actually knew one of us
Then you’d have to be a man and blew one of us
It’s all talk
I’m still not hushed
Every time you judge me
Youse can all get fuckedActually youse are all in luck
I got a gift for your chin
These fuckin nuts[various news announcers]: [ ] Court in Werribee, trashed after another wild night … litter the street as stragglers return home…
[ ] Drastic
Leave ‘em with a fat lip
Lookin like a spastic
[ ] only pick [on/up] fat chicks
I split lips and I fuckin hate nips
Highly amazing
The white Caucasian
Sittin back
Fucking up [ ]
Got caned
We were named and shamed
Ball and chain
No one to [shame?]
When her hair got –They didn’t show her nude
When you look Youtube
With more views
Than the ten o’clock news[news announcer]:…They don’t realise that this stuff is just horrific ….
To the cunts who talk shit about the Werribee crew
Got a message comin straight for you
You punks don’t have a clue who you’re dissin
So shut your fuckin chin and give the lip into quittin and kick [ ]
Listen to the rhymes [ ] you’re piss poor
I got no discretion with the Werribee lesson
Causin great depression
No need for testing
Coz we proved we’re worthy
No room for reporters in the thirty thirty[news announcer]: ….our whole community has failed these kids, and unfortunately the whole community will pay the price when they become adults, because I can’t see them changing. They’re thugs in training.
It’s commenced back in town
I’m still the underground king
I haven’t lost my crown
Had to come back with this Werribee alliance
But the media drop dead in absolute silence
I’m the cunt you gotta look out for
Got the families lockin up the motherfuckin door
So tell me what you want from me
Come to Werribee and motherfucker you will see[news announcers, unintelligible]
Banging down the street looking for a fight
I’m overdue
Tell them big cunts I got it over you
You can’t escape me
You see me at every party I attend
You go home turn your telly on
You see me again
You go to bed you dream about me
Fame will never end
It doesn’t stop there
The copper chopper’s in the air
On the news, Today Tonight, and A Current Affair
Doin slab tricks and bottle runners
Just because I’m thirsty
If I don’t get caught
Don’t worry the guilt still hurts me
Look for the Werribee banner
Gunshots fired
Police required
Stolen cars hotwired
I’m so tired
Hearin about these young girls knocked up
We bash cunts and leave
Before the [ ] rock up
Couldn’t give a fuck
It’s Werribee until I’m locked upMust just be a Werribee thing
To bash cunts, bag bums, total [ ] when we [ ]
No words for the drama we bring
You heard of us
The Werribee Kings
You heard of us
We’ll fuck you up greatly
Because they all hate me
Been on the low lately
Can’t save cos we’re beyond savin
Try and put me away
Just for misbehavin
Rantin and ravin on and on
About us kids from Werribee
And so on
Why don’t you go and find out what we’ve done
[ ] shit that was just fun[various voices]: … made the local papers earlier this year when his taxi was attacked by a gang of youths … every effort by [ ] will be made to bring these boys to justice. We will not rest until every one of these boys is prosecuted to the full extent of the law … [jeering laughter] I can’t understand it, I mean I – I don’t understand it at all, and I’m, I feel very humiliated as a father … [more jeering noises] … I think it’s a sign that the community is failing.
What irks me more then the actual act itself it the subsequent slap on the wrist they received.
The release of the rap video clearly shows they haven’t learnt anything and will most likely reoffend, albeit to a lesser degree then their original crime.
As long as we hand down lollypop rehabilitation sentences for serious crimes this sort of nonsense is going to continue.
OzSoapbox’s last blog post..Ringleader of Werribee attacks posts hate rap on internet
I agree with you 100%.
Sickening.
I can only see one way of preventing further crimes by these scumbags, and that would end up with me in the lockup….
So damn angry…
” the video featuring child pornography (adults attacking a 17 year old girl)”
Where is this sick little slime posting this stuff ?
Cheshire, I don’t believe any of them were adults. As far as I know, no names were released.
Cynic: I don’t know, and if anyone finds out, please don’t post links here.
*cries*
It all seems so hopeless sometimes.
Is there anything that can be done about this ‘reporting’? Anyone to complain to (besides the newspaper editor, who in my experience don’t bother replying)
I know nothing can be done about her rapists :-( the kind of people who would commit such acts and feel pride are beyond anything I can imagine.
lauredhel – like you I notice this particular misuse of language everywhere in media reports… but this one here still managed to rattle me. This is a hatred of women, pure and simple, and to report such a case as a ‘sex tape’ is nothing less than complete misogyny, a total and deliberate failure to recognise that young woman as a human being.
It seems very deliberate on the part of these journos to avoid the word ‘rape’ in their news pieces.. anyone know of any editorial policies around this in these papers?
[...] says what needs to be said, [...]
I cried and was physically sick when I heard about this. Some people are so evil and need to be locked up [redacted*] I cannot believe the sentence they were given. Do they call this justice? I hope they rot in hell as they obviously will not get what they deserve by our justice system.
[*No, I'm not publishing comments advocating prison rape. ~L]
*groak*
Deus Ex Macintosh’s last blog post..Darwin’s Egg
Lost for words.
It is, because they’re really happy to use the word any time they can precede it with “false” or “cry” – using it then and avoiding it other times reveals an attitude – or among people who use words for a living, it reveals an agenda.
Actually there was another quote from the “music producer” reported in the Courier Mail that made me nauseous:
“He doesn’t say anything about the attack. Quote the lyrics where he says that stuff, because he doesn’t. Other people said stuff about it. Not him.
“How would you feel if you were the family of the victims that were wrongly accused of things that didn’t happen?”
So not only do we have the perpetrators laughing off what they’ve done, and laughing at the rest of us. They’re actively encouraged by others to dismiss what they’ve done and to view themselves as some sort of victims or heroes.
This music producer person is clearly a sociopath. I hope the police are keeping a close eye on him, because he sounds like someone who is very likely to harm others, if he hasn’t already.
@ SunlessNick:
I suspect legal liability issues constrain this habit and for historical and social inertial reasons that only go one way. The newspapers would love to use the word “rape” all the time, because it sells papers. It’s just that in some circumstances they will almost certainly be sued for using it and in other circumstances they can be almost certain that they will not.
The perpetrators of the assault have been tried, convicted and sentenced and the crime they were convicted of was not rape, therefore if the newspapers call it rape they are wide open to lawsuits against which they have no defence at all, and because of all the moral panic about “ruining his life” regarding accusations of rape, the potential damages awarded could be staggering.
On the other side of the coin, women who make an accusation of rape that is not proved in court have no legal ruling on their side to make any lawsuit a slam-dunk if a media organisation publishes articles claiming that they are liars or deluded, and even if they did sue (and win) then the damages that a jury would award them would probably be small, because juries generally are not sympathetic to women who cannot prove that they were raped in court.
I reckon it’s just cold, callous risk and return calculation that determines whether most newspapers use the word “rape” in these reports or not.
The problem with this as a sole explanation is twofold:
- this has also been asserted as a defence in states where there is no such crime as “r-pe” on the books (and where it is very clear from descriptions that the assault was rape). Using a plain English language descriptor isn’t accusing a r-pist of a crime he wasn’t convicted of if there is no such crime. Are these folk also going to sue because they weren’t technically convicted of “S-x Crime” or “Sickening Attack”?
- In jurisdictions where there is such a crime as “r-pe”, there are plenty of non-offensive, accurate alternatives. “S-x crime”, as above. “S-xual assault”, “violation”, “assault”, “forced penetration”, “molestation”, and so on. Not “s-x”.
The problem that these r-pists weren’t convicted of rape is a whole nother ball of wax. Procuring or compelling s-xual penetration by intimidation is r-pe – and as far as I can tell, it’s also called r-pe under current Victoria Law. I can’t figure out whether it occurred just before or just after the law reform.
{Trying Crikey-style censorship to see if this will get the comment through the “your comment seems spammy” roadblock. }
Strange. Some 10-15 years ago the daughter of one of our neighbours – with a physical and mental disability – was tortured, raped and murdered. Not long before that we had attended her happy 21st birthday. :( RIP Katy. We live in such a sad society sometimes. Or maybe most times.
One has to wonder at why they were not charged with and convicted of rape. It appears as our judicial system has let society down yet again.
Just…. how??? How does a family produce such twisted children and – not do anything?
Jha, they’re probably all still living with their mums. And their mums probably still think the sun shines out of their arses.
Seeing violent, ugly men, and the first people you blame is women? What?
Without any evidence, how about we leave their mums out of it?
Not the first person I blame. That’d be the boys. I didn’t mean to let the dads off the hook, either.
You hit one of my pet peeves.
Even if they were charged and convicted of aggravated rape, the most they could get is 2 years in a youth justice centre, unless the law’s been changed drastically since I knew it better.
The 5 ‘death offences’ were the only exception.
I think anyone who behaves like that should be sectioned, and released only when an experienced psychiatrist is willing to sign that they are no longer a threat to others.
But we live in a society where if you cave someone’s face in, and show no remorse, and get banned from a lousy swim team after wrangling a suspended sentence, people get outraged on your behalf.
I despair. I think I’ll enrol Bear in ‘Fight like a girl’ when she turns 5…
Armagny, in the absence of evidence of mental illness, I’m really not convinced that it will serve the interests of the ill residents of psychiatric facilities to have arsehole white supremacist rapists chucked in with them.
I guess it seems the slightly more rehabilitative option to the other- that they get locked up for 25 years in a hellpit.
Rehabilitation, that’s the problem, isn’t it? Put kids that age in jail or even in Juvie, and they’ll learn to be worse than they are from the experts. Maybe pick up a drug habit to boot. Then when they come out – unemployable. That’s really not a good way to render them harmless.
Well, after their rehabilitation are they employable now?
Would you hire any of them tommorow to work in your business?
OSB, obvs they aren’t rehabilitated, so that is a bit academic.
Well they were sentenced to what the judge thought was a suitable amount of time to get rehabilitated.
If you’re suggesting they aren’t rehabilitated would you agree that rehabilitation is a sham and that they’d be no worse off had they been sent to prison?
At least with prison there’s a small percentage that it might actually work.
It is very difficult to judge a human heart and mind from what you read in the paper. and nobody knows the whole story. You can only look at the facts of the matter and make a judgement on that. The facts are that they not only raped a disabled girl, but took pleasure in her degradation, and took pleasure in inflicting pain. And then they took pleasure in advertising it – and continue to show a defiance in these lyrics, which goes beyond teenage rebel stuff, and enters into some very disordered plane of existence. And looking at all that, for me the question is – if they can be rehabilitated at all. The acts committed most definitely fall within a category of behaviour that would see them classed as sociopathic if they were adults. Anti-social personality disorder has not responded very well to any sort of psychotherapeutic intervention. If I proceed on the idea that these individuals are not able to be rehabilitated, and I do, then my concern would be to minimise any further damage to those they may come into contact with. My only concern would be to disable any capacity they have to cause damage by whatever means available. If that means putting them away for 25 years, so be it. Im not motivated by anger here because this is enough to make you cry. To say that someone who is 17 is beyond rehabilitiation is a tragedy of enormous proportions. But that happens. And when it does, everyone needs to be protected from these individuals because they are committed to the destruction of those vulnerable to them and they do it because it brings them pleasure .
And all that was also academic, given they were given a rehab program rather than jail. I fear for whoever comes their way again.
Casey I think the way that you have articulated the problem is similiar to the reasoning that has got me to the point where I think an approach based on treatment, coupled with proscribing freedom (whether entirely in an institution or more benignly monitored in the community, depending on risk) until it is assessed as safe to do otherwise, would make more sense.
I think this is the case for all violent offenders of a serious or repeating type. The problem with the judicial approach is that prison is overwhelmingly punitive, rather than rehabilitative. Don’t take from this that I have much sympathy for violent offenders, I just recognise that even a large sentence (say 15 years pre parole) won’t make the community safe when the person comes out.
It is hard to believe it isn’t obvious in a world where so many personality traits can be tagged psychiatric or psychological conditions, that a teenager who did and took pleasure in what’s described here isn’t very screwed up. It follows not only that mere punitive measures are a bit senseless, but also that the State has a responsibility to ensure the community is protected in the future. That is, he shouldn’t be free to roam around yet, given he is clearly still a danger.