U.K.'s 'most prolific rapist,' who targeted men, jailed for life

Reynhard Sinaga, 36, an Indonesian doctoral student, has been sentenced to life in prison with a possible release after 30 years on convictions of raping and assaulting 48 men in Manchester, England.

The life sentence adds to a 20-years-to-life term Sinaga received for prior convictions in sexual assault cases.

Reynhard Sinaga was found guilty of raping or sexually assaulting 48 young men in Manchester.Greater Manchester Police / via AFP – Getty Images

Prosecutors said Sinaga, who has lived in the United Kingdom since 2007, was “the most prolific rapist in British legal history.” Sinaga’s identity was revealed for the first time Monday after two years of trials.

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Judge Suzanne Goddard called him “highly dangerous, cunning and deceitful” and said he would “never be safe to be released.”

“You are an evil serial sexual predator who has preyed upon young men who came into the city center wanting nothing more than a good night out with their friends,” Goddard said. “One of your victims described you as a monster. The scale and enormity of your offending confirms this as an accurate description.”

While Singaga was convicted of sexual offenses against 48 men, roughly 195 men were apparently filmed while being abused in his apartment — many of them while unconscious — according to authorities.

Sinaga reportedly preyed on drunk and mainly heterosexual young men by waiting outside nightclubs as they wandered out, having lost their friends or been ejected by bouncers. In the street, Sinaga would invite them to recuperate in his nearby apartment.

At home, Sinaga allegedly would give the men drinks laced with GHB, a party drug that, when combined with alcohol, induces unconsciousness. However prosecutors never found any GHB, and Sinaga claimed the men all consented to a fetish scenario where they pretended to be dead, a defense rejected by multiple juries.

Authorities said they found “terabytes” of data showing Sinaga’s assaults, which he videotaped. The men would wake up and have no memory of the assaults. But in June 2017, a victim woke up while Sinaga was assaulting him and called the police, bringing Sinaga’s string of assaults to an end.

British authorities are asking other potential victims to report information online.

Research has shown that men are less likely than women to be sexually assaulted, but when they are, men are less likely to report the assault. In the U.S., one in 10 rape victims are male, according to the anti-sexual assault organization RAINN, but male college students aged 18-24 are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted than other men.

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The Associated Press contributed.

source: nbcnews.com