TV & Film
Documentary about UK’s most prolific rapist Reynhard Sinaga to air on BBC tonight
‘Catching a Predator’ will detail GMP’s operation to capture and convict Sinaga
A documentary exploring the heinous crimes committed by serial rapist Reynhard Sinaga will be airing on BBC2 tonight.
Last year, Sinaga was arrested and convicted of drugging and raping forty-eight men aged seventeen to thirty-six in his Manchester flat, though police believe he had targeted over 200 victims, many of whom are yet to come forward.
Police learned how the thirty-eight year old, originally from Indonesia but living in Manchester while studying for a pHd in Leeds, ‘stalked’ his victims who had became separated from friends on nights out before leading them to his flat down Princess Street in Manchester’s city centre.
There, he would provide drinks laced with GHB or GBL and sexually assault the men all while documenting his appalling acts on his phone.
The serial rapist was only caught after one of his victims woke up during an attack and fought back, attacking him to the point he ‘thought he had killed him’.
When officers eventually seized Sinaga’s phone they found he had filmed each of his attacks – amounting to hundreds of hours of footage – and launched the largest rape inquiry in British history.
And tonight, BBC2 documentary Catching a Predator will reveal the very operation that helped GMP to capture and convict Sinaga.
The official synopsis for the documentary reads: “With exclusive access to Greater Manchester Police’s 2017-19 investigation, this film tells the story of serial male rapist Sinaga’s conviction – the biggest rape case in British legal history… As evidence of the horrific scale of Sinaga’s offending was uncovered, this film tells the detailed inside story of how detectives pieced together an unprecedented prosecution.
BBC
“And one of Sinaga’s victims, speaking in the film for the very first time, waves his right to anonymity to break the silence that surrounds male rape. His powerful testimony contributes to an important national conversation in the UK, where sexual violence against men remains one of the most underreported crimes.”
Daniel is the first victim to waive his right to anonymity and open up publicly about the attack – in a preview of the documentary, he says he ‘couldn’t remember anything’ when he woke up in Sinaga’s flat, and only learned of his assault when police officers showed him the footage from his phone.
He said: “It is just horrible to see yourself that vulnerable in photographs that someone else has taken. You can see I am comatose… I look dead.”
Catching a Predator will air on BBC2 tonight at 9pm.