Sheehan says Louise is right about the big picture of gang rape in the early 2000s.
"The scale of the sexual intimidation of women in Sydney was never assessed," Sheehan says. "Let alone acknowledged."
Mamamia contacted the NSW Police but they had not responded to our questions about the alleged assault at the time of publication.
However, if details of the case are accurate it contributes to the question of how many other rapes go unreported. We know that many women do not report sexual assault. And while every sexual assault is brutal and horrific by nature, what may be shocking to the public is the possibility that crimes committed with this level of obvious violence would go unnoticed.
Women need to be able to report a crime. The day after, six months after, 20 years after.
They need to be able to walk into a police station and have their accusations taken seriously. It's the courts' job, not the role of police, to debate that crime.