SYDNEY, April 5: An Australian court increased two Pakistani immigrant brothers’ jail terms for gang rape on Wednesday after hearing fresh evidence of sexual assaults by the pair. The brothers, who can only be referred to as MSK and MAK, have already been jailed for 22 years and 16 years respectively for the knifepoint rape at their family home in Sydney in July 2002 of two teenage girls.

The New South Wales Supreme Court increased their sentences to take into account the rape of another two girls, TW and CH, then aged 14 and 13, at the same home a month earlier.

MAK, now 27, had his sentence increased to 28 years and will not now be eligible for parole until 2024, while MAK, now 26, had another three years added onto his term and will be eligible for parole in 2016.

A third brother, MMK, was given a 12-month sentence for having consensual sex with a minor on the night of the attacks, but it will be served concurrently with the 22-year term he is already serving over the July 2002 offences.

A fourth brother, MRK, is serving 10 years for his role in those rapes but was not facing charges in relation to the attacks on TW and CH.—AFP