Reynhard Sinaga: Mother of UK's 'most prolific' rapist says he is still 'my baby'

12 January 2020, 10:17

Reynhard Sinaga's mother said she wondered if others made up stories about her son
Reynhard Sinaga's mother said she wondered if others made up stories about her son. Picture: PA / GMP
Nick Hardinges

By Nick Hardinges

The mother of Britain's "most prolific" rapist said she still sees him as "my baby" and wondered whether one of his victims "made up" their story.

Reynhard Sinaga's mother said she did not even know her "baby" son was gay after she found out about him sexually violating 48 men in his Manchester city centre flat.

The 36-year-old student was financed by his Indonesian family while studying in the UK since 2007.

His mother said she desperately wanted him to return to the country to help run their palm oil plantation and refinery.

However, Sinaga refused and continued life in the UK where he committed his horrifying crimes, including filming himself sexually violating unconscious men.

Police believe he may have abused at least 195 males in total.

His mother Normawati told the Sunday Times that she flew over to visit her son in hospital following his arrest in 2017.

The PhD student was found out when his final victim regained consciousness during an assault and beat up Sinaga.

Normawati said: "Imagine a small Indonesian man being beaten up by a big, tall westerner. I wondered if the other person had made up the story."

The room in Manchester where Sinagasexually assaulted his victims
The room in Manchester where Sinagasexually assaulted his victims. Picture: PA /GMP

Ms Sinaga insisted her son was a "quiet boy" who went to church in Indonesia every Sunday morning where she encouraged him to play the piano.

She told the paper she begged him to come home but he refused, telling her he wanted to follow his ambition of becoming a lecturer.

She said: "He said Indonesia was not a good place to live for him and he felt comfortable living in Manchester."

Ms Sinaga said she struggled to believe her son was capable of such crimes, according to the report.

She said: "We are a good Christian family who do not believe in homosexuality. He is my baby."

Sinaga would entice men in the early hours of the morning from outside clubs in Manchester to his flat where he drugged and sexually assaulted them.

He posed as a good samaritan and offered them a floor to sleep on or promised them more drink.

His victims - who were mainly heterosexual - had little or no memory of the hours that followed as Sinaga filmed the assaults on his mobile phone, and they later left the apartment unaware they had been violated.

It is thought he laced alcoholic drinks with a drug such as GHB, also known as liquid ecstasy.

Sinaga was jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years after he was found guilty of a total of 159 offences committed between January 2015 and May 2017.

They included 136 counts of rape, 13 counts of sexual assault, eight counts of attempted rape and two counts of assault by penetration.