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Original poster

The tone of the coverage of the Reynhard Sinaga case. *Title edited by MNHQ*

521 replies

Dogsaresomucheasier · 06/01/2020 22:13

Just watching tonight’s news. I do not wish to minimise the trauma suffered by the victims of Reynhard Sinaga, but I’m really struggling with the reporting of the case; even from female journalists. It seems so full of empathy and gravitas, when so many female victims go unheard.

OP posts:
ShatnersWig · 07/01/2020 09:41

Brefugee That's definitely valid, although there have been other rape cases that have not published victim CCTV. As the reporting was only lifted yesterday, it's possible some other CCTV may now be released.

fufulina · 07/01/2020 09:41

I agree. Where’s the victim blaming? They were drunk and alone. What were they wearing? Were they asking for it? Were they wearing nice pants? What was their sexual history? Had they slept with other people?

The double standards are breathtaking.

ssd · 07/01/2020 09:41

I really really am appalled at your op. What took place is heinous and its been reported as such. When the rapist taxi driver report was in the news it was reported similar as it was also so awful.

For anyone to say oh this is reported worse as it happened to men, its not shown as bad when it happens to women, well words fail me. I think you should be ashamed of yourself.

Xenia · 07/01/2020 09:41

These crimes against young men are really awful and no worse or better than female rape. Whether male or female victims suffer hugely.

Then 18 year old who was brave enough to fight off when he woke up and to give the rapist's phone to the police has done a huge service and helped so many other men both past and future potential victims.

FizzyIce · 07/01/2020 09:43

This is one fucked up thread .
What the hell is wrong with some people ?!

TatianaLarina · 07/01/2020 09:43

But it's the facts of this case that potentially explain the difference in the coverage of this case

I don’t agree. The numbers are comparable with Worboys. The tone is different.

ssd · 07/01/2020 09:45

I know a lot of posters on MN really don't like men, but this thread is disgusting. Really really disgusting.

Cam77 · 07/01/2020 09:45

@Hoppinggreen
Because unfortunately in most cases it is one persons word against another persons word. Here you have nearly two hundred young straight males being led to this guys flat and then presumably leaving in an evidently drugged state. And of course phone records, video records, and hundred of other things. The evidence must have been overwhelming, Of course the prosecution and trial process is far, far from perfect but you can’t seriously compare this to a case where a single person goes home with another single person and then person A) claims x happened while person B) claims y happened and there is little definitive evidence even though we are often inclined to believe x or y.

ShatnersWig · 07/01/2020 09:47

Xenia That'll be the victim who was raped three times and woke up to find himself being molested a fourth time and who the police arrested on suspicion of causing GBH. Had, for some bizarre reason, the rapist not put his phone in his victim's pocket, the victim would probably have been done for GBH and the rapist gone free to commit again.

EwwSprouts · 07/01/2020 09:47

Sinaga would wait for men leaving nightclubs and bars before leading them to his flat from the BBC report.

This is where the press would have torn into a female victim. How drunk? Hadn't even socialised with him earlier in the evening. Went off alone with complete stranger.

The defence claimed the victims had consented. Were all their phones taken for scrutiny?

Brefugee · 07/01/2020 09:49

As the reporting was only lifted yesterday, it's possible some other CCTV may now be released.

goodness i hope not. All i want to see reported are the facts of the case and to read that the victims are getting the help they need.

Which is all i ever want to read about rape cases. That the perpetrator was caught, prosecuted and doing jail time.

ssd · 07/01/2020 09:51

I've reported this thread. It actually makes me feel sick. And now we have posters pulling apart the trial itself, like any of us were there. Or actually know the facts.

ShatnersWig · 07/01/2020 09:51

I don’t agree. The numbers are comparable with Worboys

No, they aren't actually. He was convicted of 12 rapes and the police say he may have had over 100 victims. I have no doubt that is probably correct,

Sinaga has been convicted of 136 rapes against 48 victims and is known to have attacked 195 men in just a couple of years. Police again, say, he may have had many more victims.

AllergicToAMop · 07/01/2020 09:55

The coverage will obviously be different just due to the sheer number of victims...

This is really like asking why coverage of one person being shot is different to coverage of someone shooting 40 people... Different questions get asked, different headlines written. All that based on number of victims, that's it.

Some posta here and generally online are really quite distasteful 🤢

Clymene · 07/01/2020 09:55

No one is saying these aren't horrific crimes ssd.

But there are differences to the way in which the media is reporting on it. Why can women not discuss that?

saraclara · 07/01/2020 09:55

Are people seriously saying IN THIS SPECIFIC CASE that if his victims were women, they wouldn't get the same sympathy? Seriously?

This is a very different scenario from most rape cases brought to court. The videos were unequivocal. For goodness sake, the victims were even snoring in some of them.
There was no question that these men had not given consent. No questions to ask about whether they'd 'given the wrong signals'. This was a very unusual case, both in the guys MO, the scale, and the clarity of the evidence.

If those videos had shown 100 unconscious young women being raped, I suspect the reporting would be more sympathetic to the victims, not less.

Phuquocdreams · 07/01/2020 09:58

Maybe he was able to be so prolific because of the stigma for male victims of rape. As someone mentioned above, it is almost inconceivable that at least some of the victims felt sore the next day, but none of them reported.

MustardScreams · 07/01/2020 09:59

It’s not about disliking men. This is an important topic.

A) because men should never feel so ashamed that they won’t come forward to prosecute their attacker. So this being visible is important.

B) it’s also ok to be angry at the way this rapist has been convicted and his sentence in comparison to other rapists. I feel so much for the victims that have had to endure this evil man’s abuse. But I can also be pissed off that men have been raping women for decades with GBH and it’s only now that it’s being looked into. Or that the victims’ underwear wasn’t held up in court to be judged to be provocative or the cause of the rape.

MustardScreams · 07/01/2020 10:00

*GHB

Hoppinggreen · 07/01/2020 10:00

annualleave I had a similar conversation with a friends husband
He said he darent go near a woman in case he’s accused of sexually assaulting her.
I asked him if he was afraid of going into a shop in case he’s accused of shoplifting. He said no because obviously he would never do anything like that.

ginghamstarfish · 07/01/2020 10:01

But once you get into double figures of drugging people in order to rape them, why such a difference in sentencing? Clearly the perpetrator, whether it's this man or Worboys, is an evil bastard who is going to carry on until they are caught. Warboys was scheduled to be released after serving just a few years, until the public outcry changed that. Can't see it happening with this man, and yes I do think it is seen differently as the victims were men. Hard to deny when comparing the two,

NearlyGranny · 07/01/2020 10:01

I think the key thing we need to grasp from this whole ghastly story is that men's response to being raped or discovering they have been raped is pretty much identical to women's.

This suggests to me that police, public and press need to have a long hard look at differences in attitudes and reporting.

TatianaLarina · 07/01/2020 10:05

No, they aren't actually. He was convicted of 12 rapes and the police say he may have had over 100 victims. I have no doubt that is probably correct

Yes they are. Police think Worboys attacked over 100 victims and Singala is known to have attacked 195. 85 women made reports after the 2008 case. Worboys, too may have had many many more, and he was considerably older

The difference in convictions is due to the fact that Singala helpfully filmed his which makes it easier to trace the victims and prove the case.

Competition over numbers, as explaining the difference in coverage is one of the most imbecilic arguments I’ve seen on a rape thread, and that’s saying something. You’re not doing yourself any favours.

saraclara · 07/01/2020 10:07

People are continuing to compare apples and oranges in this thread. And many clearly have read next to nothing about this case, which is very different from the worboys case, as far as evidence and clarity is concerned.

Cam77 · 07/01/2020 10:08

@MustardScreams
You are miles off the mark. It’s terrible that so many women are victims of rape and it’s also terrible (but sadly sometimes unavoidable) that it’s so hard/impossible to prove some alleged/actual crimes beyond reasonable doubt, and that women may have to undergo a harrowing court experience as part of that process. But that has nothing to do with what happened in Manchester. You are comparing a policeman on trial for possible unlawful lethal use of his weapon against one man, to a policeman who goes on a murderous rampage in a shopping mall killing nearly two hundred people. It’s ridiculous.