Sexual Assault: Identifying the ‘Bondi Butcher’ Accused of Raping Dozens of Women

Almost 40 years later, Australian police have identified a suspected rapist who terrorized Sydney for three decades.

Police said Keith Sims raped 31 women between 1985 and 2001 by breaking into their homes or attacking them while they were jogging.

The investigators initially assumed that several men were behind the attacks.

However, DNA technology has helped investigators link all of the attacks now to Sims, who died last February aged 66.

Sims, known at various times as the “Bondy killer” or “rapist in a sports jacket,” perpetrated his first attack in the seaside suburb of Clovelly in 1985 and his last in 2001 at a nearby cemetery.

Back then, independent investigations were launched into each incident, but police began to link them all together in the 2000s.

Investigations confirmed that the DNA of 12 of the victims, as well as that of 19 other incidents, was identical to how the attack was carried out.

Women between the ages of 14 and 55 gave similar descriptions of the attacker, who was between 160 and 180 cm tall, had dark skin, brown eyes and a broad nose.

The rapist hid his face and wore casual clothing such as sports jackets, hats or football shorts and threatened his victims with a knife or made them believe he was carrying it.

In 2019, investigators made significant progress after discovering a DNA match in the police database, reducing the suspects list to 324 people.

In September, investigators found a match between Sims’ sample and the victims’ sample.

According to local media reports, Sims’ family and friends describe him as a well-loved father and grandfather and a member of the community.

An investigator quoted members of the Sims family as saying they “had no idea.”

Detective Sergeant Shelley Jones told the Daily Telegraph: “We met his wife and she was absolutely shocked.

“You couldn’t believe that the man I knew could do all those things,” he added.

Investigators also contacted the victims to let them know their attacker had been identified, but his death prevented further legal action from being taken.