Hofer (right) offered a vile excuse when asked by reporter Hannah Sinclair (left) about his 17-year-old victim. Photo / A Current Affair / Channel 9
Hofer (right) offered a vile excuse when asked by reporter Hannah Sinclair (left) about his 17-year-old victim. Photo / A Current Affair / Channel 9
Warning - disturbing content
A former Sydney real estate agent who lured women into his home and raped them has offered a sickening excuse when asked about his youngest victim, a 17-year-old girl.
In 2016, Thomas Hofer was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail after being found guilty of eightcounts of sexual assault against two women, aged 24 and 17.
He was released on parole in April last year and, in a recent interview with Nine's A Current Affair, proclaimed his innocence and maintained the encounters were consensual.
On two separate occasions in 2014, Hofer lured two women to his home in Glebe in Sydney's inner west after they responded to an advert he posted on the website Flatmates.com.au.
The jury heard the former real estate agent met up with the women at a bar in Glebe where they become intoxicated, before taking them back to his property under the guise of inspecting a room to rent.
It was here that Hofer forced himself on the women.
During the A Current Affair interview, Channel Nine reporter Hannah Sinclair noted that one of his victims was "was only 17", prompting Hofer to offer a sickening response.
Hofer was convicted of eight counts of sexual assault and sentenced to jail for six-and-a-half years. Photo / A Current Affair/ Channel 9
When Sinclair noted that the women had been left "traumatised" with one even contemplating suicide following the attack, Hofer was again quick to respond.
"Well I attempted suicide in jail because I was unable to prove my innocence," he said.
Despite spending more than six years in jail for his crimes and having an appeal thrown out of the High Court of Australia, Hofer still maintains the version of events relayed from his victims and accepted by the court are "not what happened".
"It was eight counts of sexual assault of which was completely 100 per cent consensual," he told A Current Affair.
His first victim, a 23-year-old American tourist told the court in 2016 that she met Hofer at a bar in Glebe after responding to his ad about a room to rent.
She told the court he kept buying her cocktails and would take glasses of water out of her hands when she tried to sober up.
By the time she got to the house, she was so drunk she couldn't fight back against Hofer when he repeatedly raped her.
"I was trying to get him to stop, I was saying, 'stop I want to go home I don't want to have sex', and I kept trying to repeat this," she said.
"I was trying to use my arms to push him off but I didn't have the strength."
After the attack ended, the woman caught a taxi back to her hostel and reported it to the police the following day.
Hofer told A Current Affair the advertisement clearly stated it was a one bedroom residence.
"I advertised for them to share a one bedroom with me. I specified the one bedroom, so there would be no misunderstanding, and it showed a king sized bed," he said.
Sinclair then said: "Surely the fact that you plied the women with alcohol would constitute that they weren't able to give their consent".
Hofer (right) offered a vile excuse when asked by reporter Hannah Sinclair (left) about his 17-year-old victim. Photo / A Current Affair / Channel 9
"They were not plied with alcohol, they were quite tipsy," Hofer responded.
"They were moderately intoxicated, not substantially."
The night after the first attack, Hofer used the same tactics to lure his second victim, a 17-year-old girl, back to his home.
When they arrived at the house, the teenager told Hofer she didn't want to have sex with him, but he pinned her down to the bed and assaulted her.
"He f***ing raped me, he was supposed to show me the room and he didn't even show me," she later told police.
When Sinclair asked Hofer if he would like to say sorry to the women he assaulted, he said he would apologise to the "genuine victims of sexual assault".
An attempt by the former real estate agent to appeal his conviction in the High Court of Australia was quickly thrown out, with the judges ruling there was "no reasonable doubt" he was guilty.
After being released from jail, the convicted rapist decided to begin an unbelievable new business venture, campaigning for funds to launch a sexual consent app.
"It is something that the police commissioner Mick Fuller – I came up with the idea before him – but he believed it would be a good idea," Hofer said.
"If there is an audio recording of consent the women won't be making false allegations."
Critics fear such an app could potentially allow offenders to record forced sexual consent from their victims.
Child protection advocate Hetty Johnston told A Current Affair said Hofer should be behind bars.
"This man is dangerous and he's out there like so many other predators and our system really fails – particularly women and children – just on a daily basis. It's extraordinary and depressing," she said.
"This app that he has come up with, again, it's as illogical and stupid and ignorant as his actions.
"While he's been caught and been convicted, he's now back out again and you know creating apps and just chest beating all over the place. It's sickening, absolutely sickening."
Not long after the interview was filmed, Hofer's parole was revoked and he was sent back to jail after being charged with a number of unrelated offences.
Sexual harm - Where to get help If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111. If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7: • Call 0800 044 334 • Text 4334 • Email support@safetotalk.nz • For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nz Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list. If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.
