Warning: This article mentions sexual assault.
The mother of an Indonesian student convicted of 136 rapes involving 44 men did not know her son was gay.
Reynhard Sinaga, a 36-year-old mature student studying in the UK, was jailed for a minimum of 30 years on 159 accounts of abuse against 48 men between 2015 and 2017, UK media reported. All but four were raped, and police believe there may have been as many as 195 victims all-up, as more potential victims have come forward in recent days.
By posing as a Good Samaritan and offering his drunk victims a place to stay, he would knock them out with drugs and then attack.
His mother Normawati Sinaga told The Sunday Times she didn't even know her son was gay.
"We are a good Christian family who do not believe in homosexuality."
Sinaga added she still views her son as her "baby" and he couldn't believe her son had committed such horrendous crimes.
She described the time her son was taken to hospital after one of his drugged victims woke up during an assault.
"Imagine a small Indonesian man being beaten up by a big, tall Westerner. I wondered if the other person had made up the story."
She said her son was a "gentle boy" who "loved to bury himself" in a book.
"He is the eldest of my four children. He didn't really go out much. He was more interested in studying."
Despite his mother's shock, deputy chief Crown prosecutor Ian Rushton called Sinaga the "most prolific rapist in British legal history".
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