Real estate agent rapist lured victims with flatmate ads, sent sick texts after attack
A rape victim who received text messages from her attacker wishing her goodnight has stared the man in the face as he was jailed for more than six years.
The woman, identified by Fairfax Media as Rose (not her real name) was lured to a restaurant and then a bar after she responded to a flatmates.com.au ad.
The teenager became drunk before real estate agent Thomas Hofer raped her at his Glebe flat in Sydney.
A court heard he took her out for Thai food before they went to the Little Guy bar in Glebe, where he continued to buy her drinks and remove glasses of water from her hands.
The NSW District Court heard on Friday that Rose had rejected sexual advances when Hofer later took her to his home.
Hofer forced the then 17 year old onto her stomach and raped her as she yelled for him to stop in October 24.
After the attack, Hofer walked Rose to a bus stop and later sent her messages saying “Goodnight dear, call me if you have any problems getting home dear,” the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Speaking after his six and a half year sentence was handed down, Rose told Fairfax Media she had struggled to take control of her life following his attack.
"[Going to court] put me in back in control," she told Fairfax.
"I took control of the situation and I made him see that it was wrong. He can't get way with doing that to people.
"I really think the best way to do that it is to stand up and fight."
A jury convicted Hofer on eight counts of sexual assault on Rose and another woman.
He maintains his innocence and says both encounters were consensual.
In the same 24 period in which he raped Rose, Hofer also lured a young US backpacker into a similar attack.
According to Rose, Hofer told her he was planning to meet another woman the following night.
She said if she had not gone to the police, Hofer would likely have had a third victim.
In sentencing the rapist to six-and-a-half years in prison, Judge Peter Whitford said his crimes had demonstrated forethought and planning and had been humiliating and traumatic for the victims.
