Life sentence for Indonesian charged for male rape in Britain

An Indonesian student described as Britain’s most prolific rapist was jailed for life on January 6 for raping 136 men. The 36-year-old student Reynhard Sinaga had targeted drunk men in bars and brought them back to his flat before sexually assaulting them.

Sinaga was found guilty of 159 counts of sexual offenses against 48 different male victims in four separate trials. He was found responsible for attacks on at least 195 men in Manchester alone.

Sinaga has been sentenced to serve 30 years in prison by a court in Manchester before being considered for release.

Sinaga was reportedly found to have spiked his victims’ drinks with a class C party drug called gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) before raping or sexually assaulting them multiple times. Occasionally referred to as a date rape drug, GHB is often used recreationally and consensually. It is also supposedly a popular choice of drug used for chemsex.

Evidence emerges

Most of the attacks were filmed on his mobile phone camera.

Sinaga’s attacks only came to light in 2017 after an 18-year-old victim woke up at 6 a.m. while being assaulted. He went to the police after reportedly managing to fight off Sinaga and also to grab his phone.

Greater Manchester police later discovered 3.29 terabytes of graphic material depicting sexual assaults on Sinaga’s mobile device – the equivalent of 250 DVDs or 300,000 photos.

In some cases, the assaults lasted for hours, with one particular attack taking place for eight hours. Authorities say the evidence indicates that he had many more victims, with roughly 195 men apparently having been filmed while being assaulted when they were in his flat – most of them unconscious at the time of the attacks.

Described as a ‘monster’

During the trials, victims described how their lives had suffered as a result of the abuse. Some had turned to alcohol and had become socially isolated, without being able to confide the incidents to relatives or friends.

One teenaged victim described Sinaga as “an evil predator” and “faceless monster”, and said the day he was informed by the police that he had been raped changed his life forever. He claimed he had begun drinking heavily, suffered panic attacks and considered self-harm.

Sinaga reportedly kept victims’ belongings as trophies and would look the victims up on Facebook after assaulting them.

Father of Sinaga, Saibun Sinaga, told BBC Indonesian, “We accept the verdict. His punishment fits his crimes. I don’t want to discuss the case any further."

Sinaga had arrived in the United Kingdom from Indonesia on a student visa in 2007. He obtained two degrees in sociology and planning from the University of Manchester, and was studying for his doctorate degree at the University of Leeds until he was suspended following his arrest in 2017.

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