Catching A Predator (UK) (Documentary)

An inside look at the investigation into Reynhard Sinaga, the most prolific rapist in British history. Last year, Sinaga was convicted of 159 male rapes and sexual assaults between 2015 and 2017, although police believe there were many more. Surprised? We don't often get to hear male victims of rape come forward and tell their story, so this one hour long documentary was a very interesting insight. Although I feel like the title is slightly misleading, because cashing the culprit here was straight forward, but it was the investigation, making people talk and actually proving that our man is the main accused , which was an ordained task.

Reynhard Sinaga, a mature 30-something student of Vietnamese origin living in Manchester, drugged men he met at clubs and bars and raped them, documenting the abuse on video. Waking up, the men would feel groggy, remember nothing, and usually assume that they drank too much, and that Sinaga had kindly given them a place to stay. Most had no idea that they had been attacked until police knocked on their doors bearing footage. It was interesting how the story unfolds because Sinaga gets caught when one of its victims attacks him brutally and he is hospitalized and when the person gives an account, the detectives get into action. Slowly through video recordings in his multiple phones, they are able to unearth that this is not one off case. Interestingly, since none of the male raped victims ever comes forward (mostly because they don't even know), the task proves to be very difficult. IN this case, most times detectives have to go tell the victims and show them the video footage. How does it feel to be told by a police officer that you were raped? More than a hundred men learned the answer to that question during an investigation into one of the most prolific rapists in British history.

Only on the victims chose to be in front of camera for this documentary. He spoke too about the stigma of being raped, and the fear that he felt about telling his father, adding: “Men don’t talk about male rape. But then his response was amazing… Nothing has been as helpful as talking to my dad.” We learned just how much police work went into securing that conviction, and the emotional toll it took on the detectives and the lawyers involved. At the hearing, Judge said Sinaga was "an evil serial sexual predator who has preyed upon young men". While the earliest case that Sinaga was prosecuted for was New Year’s Day in 2015, police believe he started offending over a decade before then. He was sentenced to 88 concurrent life sentences, with a minimum term of 40 years served before he is considered for parole. This BBC documentary is very well made and deserves to be seen but very difficult to watch. You often don't get to see a detective breaking down, knowing very well what transpired an dhow their investigation probably also ruined a lot of people's personal knowledge of themselves knowing that they were raped. (7/10)