Thomas Hofer: convicted Sydney rapist refused bail over alleged sexual touching

A convicted rapist and ex-Sydney real estate agent has been charged with the alleged “chilling luring” of a German tourist into his home – in a “strikingly similar” circumstances to his prior crimes.

A former Sydney real estate agent who spent years in jail for raping women who were looking for a room to rent allegedly lured another woman into his home while out on parole and sexually touched her without consent.

The 64-year-old convicted rapist was refused bail in the NSW Supreme Court over the alleged offence on December 21 last year.

Reading from the prosecution’s case, Justice Peter Hamill told the court the complainant was visiting Australia from Germany and had answered an advertisement for accommodation.

“She had a series of interactions with the applicant that do not seem disputed and then attended the premises to inspect it,” Justice Hamill said.

Thomas Hofer, 64, has been denied bail over a sexual touching charge.

“The two people drank alcohol together and the complainant said she had what is described as a significant memory blank between them until the next morning. The applicant, when spoken to by police, denied there was sexual intercourse but said he had kissed the complainant.”

Hofer’s defence lawyer told the court the woman couldn’t remember what happened except that she woke up in “the bed” with a different T-shirt to what she had on the night before and did not remember going for coffee in the morning, before contacting police.

He said it’s an unusual case which would likely only end in a good behaviour bond if it wasn’t for his previous sexual convictions, adding it could not be known if the kissing was of a “sexual nature”.

Hofer’s defence asked for bail with a condition he not have any woman over at his Glebe home.

But the prosecution argued the charge was “extremely serious” and involved “a degree of planning,” referencing messages in which Hofer allegedly failed to answer the woman’s questions about the number of bedrooms he had.

She said his previous “very serious sexual offences” were an aggravating factor in considering bail.

Justice Hamill said he looked beyond the “relatively benign nature” of the alleged kiss to how the pair came to be together as well as his rape convictions, which went all the way to the High Court of Australia.

“I accept the submission is the circumstances are quite similar and have hallmarks of somebody luring young women into their house in order to engage in improper and sexual acts towards them,” Justice Hamill told the court.

“The current allegation, when looked at the very serious sexual assault convictions, are strikingly similar … The reality is the cases are so similar the court must be left with a very strong concern of future conduct of a similar kind. History shows it could go very much further than a kiss.”

Hofer was jailed for six and a half years over eight counts of sexual assault against two women that took place in October 2014.

In those instances, the court heard Hofer lured the women to his home after they responded to an advertisement on flatmates.com.au and met them at a bar where they got drunk and returned to his place to inspect a room, but he instead raped them.

Hofer was on parole for those offences when he allegedly committed the fresh crime.

He will return to court on July 18.