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Serial rapist Reynhard Sinaga bullied as a child in Jambi
He is known for his affable personality among his friends and family, but was often bullied because of his effeminate demeanor.
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Convicted serial rapist Reynhard Sinaga. (Kompas.com/-)
A
fter a shock revelation that Reynhard Sinaga, an Indonesian student who was studying for a Ph.D in Manchester, was found guilty of sexually assaulting scores of men, and named the most prolific rapist in British criminal history, friends have come forward to reveal his difficult childhood in Jambi.
Born in 1983 as the first son of Saibun Sinaga, a businessman in the plantation and property sectors, he went to a popular Catholic elementary school that was attended by affluent families in Jambi city, the capital of the province of the same name. He studied from 1989 to 1998 before the family moved to Depok, West Java.
Lidya, a friend who went to the same private elementary school with him, remembered him as a smart student who loved reading books.
“Many people depended on him,” she told The Jakarta Post.
She said she was not surprised to hear years later that Reynhard had attained three master's degrees and was pursuing a Ph.d in the UK. What she did not expect was that he was capable of the harrowing crimes that had traumatized his victims in Manchester and their families.
The 36-year-old was sentenced on Monday by a court in Manchester to life on 136 counts of rape, eight counts of attempted rape, 13 counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual assault with penetration.
The court revealed that he preyed on men who were out drinking at bars near his apartment, some of whom were on their way home or waiting for friends, and lured them to his place, before he drugged and raped them. He had been committing his crimes for two-and-a-half years before the police arrested him in 2017.
