EXCLUSIVE
A man accused of encouraging three friends to rape a woman he met on Tinder has told a jury the alleged victim consented to group sex.
Adam Kabbout took to the witness stand at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Thursday to give his version of what happened the night the woman alleged she was raped.
The 26-year-old is on trial with Omar El-Sayed, 25, Rami Katlan, 26, and Mohammed Ali, 21, who have all pleaded not guilty to a string of offences.
Kabbout is charged with six counts of aggravated sexual assault in connection with what happened in the early morning of April 16, 2022, at the woman’s Belmore apartment in Sydney’s south-west.
El-Sayed, Katlan and Ali are charged with two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of aggravated sexual assault in company.
Kabbout did not have sex with the alleged victim, but according to the Public Prosecution Service, he encouraged the other three men to repeatedly rape her as part of a joint criminal enterprise.
El-Sayed, Katlin and Ali, who had not met the 23-year-old woman before going to her apartment, claim the sex they had with her was consensual.
Kabbout, who works for a kitchen installation company, said Thursday that he matched with the woman on Tinder and that they had been in touch via Snapchat for about eight months.
A man accused of encouraging three friends to rape a woman he met on Tinder has told a jury the alleged victim consented to group sex. Adam Kabbout is pictured outside court on Thursday
“She seemed like a very outgoing girl,” he said.
‘She seemed very friendly, very nice, very direct with her sexual things that she was into. Very cheerful, easygoing person, very laid back.’
Kabbout said the woman sent him explicit photos and videos of herself, which he found arousing, and that he sent her images of his genitals.
She showed interest in ‘fetishes’ including group sex, ‘rough sex’ and BDSM (bondage/dominance/submission/masochism).
“She was very detailed about the things she loved,” he said. “I just love normal things.”
“She told me that she was interested in group sex and that she wanted to experience that in the future.”
The night of the alleged rapes, Kabbout, El-Sayed, Katlan and Katlan’s brother Yazan – who has not been accused of any wrongdoing – watched Souths beat the Bulldogs in a Good Friday NRL match at Olympic Park.
Ali later joined them and they were driving through south-west Sydney when Kabbout began exchanging Snapchat messages with the woman.
Omar El-Sayed (above), Rami Katlan and Mohammed Ali have pleaded not guilty to two charges of sexual intercourse without consent and two charges of aggravated sexual assault in company.
Kabbout said that when one of the group members asked who he was messaging, he said it was a girl he wanted to “do” something with.
“I think the conversation led to me saying she might also be interested in group sex,” he said.
“One of them said, ‘Just ask her if she wants to,’ and I asked her.”
Kabbout says a series of Snapchat messages that immediately followed the conversation with his friends have been filed with the court.
“That’s what they’re working on,” Kabbout wrote.
When the woman replied, “Really?!!?!,” he replied, “Yes.”
Woman: ‘Eep. Maybe not honestly [to be honest].
Kabbout: ‘They are only 3 boys.’
Woman: ‘I don’t know. [I don’t know] ‘Their regret HAHA.’
Kabbout: ‘They look like me, lol.’
Woman: ‘Hahahaha eh tempting, but maybe not hm.’
Referring to the phrase “they love that,” Kabbout told the jury that he felt he had suggested to the woman that they have sex with his girlfriends.
“Before that sentence came, we talked a little bit about what my mates were planning to do,” he said.
“And I told her that maybe they would like to have group sex, to go to bed with her.”
In the hours leading up to the alleged rapes, Kabbout and the woman sent each other messages on Snapchat in which, according to the Public Prosecution Service, there was a suggestion that she would have group sex with his friends. (Above is a reproduction of their messages based on a piece of evidence from the court)
Kabbout said he told his friends that the woman had not accepted the invitation for group sex, but that he still thought it was a possibility.
“I told her I would go there myself and ask her again if she was interested,” he told the jury.
Kabbout said that shortly after he arrived at the woman’s apartment, they had a brief conversation before she led him to her bedroom.
“She went straight for my belt,” he said. “I didn’t expect that. There was no sexual talk.
“I told her, ‘I don’t feel like it tonight.’ She said, ‘Bring the boys.’”
Kabbout said that El-Sayed came alone and that while he was in the woman’s bedroom, the other three men entered the apartment.
When El-Sayed finished, Ali was the first to enter the room, followed by Rami Katlan.
Kabbout said that when his friends indicated they wanted to leave, he told them he wanted to talk to the woman one more time.
“I said to her, ‘We’re going now, is everything OK?’” he told the jury.
She told me to fuck off and gave me a dirty [look]. She looked a little angry. I just said, “Okay then.” I was really confused when she said that.
Omar El-Sayed, Rami Katlan (above) and Mohammed Ali – who had not met the 23-year-old woman before moving into her apartment – claim that all the sex they had with her was consensual
When asked if he had arranged for his friends to have sex with the woman without her consent, Kabbout said: ‘No, it was allowed. It was allowed from the beginning.’
The woman has previously denied that she ever spoke to Kabbout about having sex with multiple men or that she wanted to ‘try a gangbang’.
Earlier this month, she testified that when Kabbout arrived at her home, they both went straight to her bedroom.
After taking a shower, the woman said she found Kabbout and four other men outside her bedroom.
“I went back to my room and closed the door,” she said. “Adam came in and I said, ‘Who are they? What are they doing here?’ and ‘I don’t want them here.’”
The woman said that Kabbout left her bedroom and that she heard the men outside having a conversation in a language she did not understand.
The night of the alleged rapes, Kabbout, El-Sayed, Katlan and Katlan’s brother Yazan – who has not been accused of any wrongdoing – were watching Souths beat the Bulldogs in a Good Friday NRL match at Olympic Park. They were later joined by Ali (above).
Kabbout then returned to the bedroom with one of the group members, she told the jury.
“He was like, ‘Suck him off,’” she said.
“I went closer to them and said I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want to do anything, but I was scared and he said just do it, so I did.”
The woman stated that after Kabbout left the room, she had sex with the man.
“I remember just saying I didn’t want to do this, I didn’t want to do this,” she said.
The woman said that when she told Kabbout she wanted the men to leave, he replied, “Not yet.”
She told the jury that a second man entered the room and raped her in the same manner as the first, and that he was then followed by a third.
The woman said she was in tears as she was allegedly raped by the second and third men and continued to protest what was being done to her.
The trial before Judge Leonie Flannery continues.