A 16-year-old girl was just something for 8 men to break and throw away. And we would never have known.

A semi-conscious 16 year-old girl was raped while fathers and husbands watched on. And chance is the only reason we know about it.

We woke this morning to the news that the police had stumbled upon footage of a rape on a Go-Pro camera they discovered by chance on a raid associated with graffiti offences.

The footage revealed that the girl, barely conscious, was assaulted in a room filled with eight men in their early 20s. Police arrested five men – four in their early 20s and one 17 year old – for a number of sexual assault offences. Reports this morning revealed that some of the men who allegedly assaulted the girl are married with children.

If the Go-Pro footage hadn’t been found, we would never have known that this vicious rape had taken place. The alleged perpetrators would not be facing justice; the girl would not be receiving support and counselling.

If the police did not stumble onto this evidence, the perpetrators would have gone on with their lives. It might have become a running joke between them. It might even have been something that they did again. And the victim? Like so many other women, she would suffer in silence, in grief, in despair.

While all aspects of this crime are heinous, the most stomach-churning aspect is this: How many more rapes are happening every day that we never find out about? How many victims are silent and alone in their fear and self-loathing?

During the press conference about this morning, police encouraged any victim of sexual assault to report the crime. They told reporters that the girl had not told anyone the rape because she was scared of reprisals.

This is more common than most people imagine.

In fact, up to 80 per cent of women never report their rape – primarily because they feel like the police will not bring the perpetrators to justice.

Add to that the fact that 90 percent of women who are raped are raped by someone that they know. A woman who reports a rape is likely to be pointing the finger at someone she knows – a friend, a family member, a friend of the family, a boyfriend.

Shame, embarrassment, fear – all of these combined explain why a woman – and in this case, a girl – might choose to pretend something like this never happened.

We know why she probably didn’t report it. The same reason why thousands of women don’t report rapes every year.

The better question is: Why did eight men, standing in a room, think it was okay to rape a 16 year old girl who was semi-conscious?

Why did men who are fathers, partners, brothers and sons, allegedly see this incapacitated child and instead of protecting her, choose to attack her?

Why did these same men think it was safe to video their crime?

These questions are two sides of the same coin: The reason why a girl wouldn’t report a crime is the same reason why a  group of men think they can commit it.

Any man who would see an incapacitated girl and sexually assault her does not place any value on her.

He considers her a lesser being. Something to break and throw away.

The reason the girl wouldn’t report a rape is because she has been told the same thing: No one will believe her, no one will stand up for her, no one will protect her from reprisals. In short, she is not worth keeping safe.

Eight men. Police say eight men stood there and watched. Eight men let this happen. Not one protected this girl. Not one valued her. Not one pictured her as their daughter, their sister or their equal.

The accused men are husbands. They are fathers. And if found guilty, these men have attacked a vulnerable child instead of protecting her.

If the police had never found that camera, this violence could continue. And we would be none the wiser.

The fact that the accused men were identified by chance is the most shocking nightmare of all.