‘Playboy rapist’ Simon Monteiro threatens suicide if court doesn’t lift extended supervision order

Details of the case can be reported after a judge refused Simon Monteiro’s request to put a media gag order on the proceedings.

Simon Monteiro, pictured outside court in 2019. Picture: AAP Image/Sue Graham

A notorious sex offender dubbed the “Playboy rapist” has told a court he will commit suicide if an onerous supervision order designed to monitor his every move in the community is not overturned.

Simon Monteiro, also known as Simon Lowe, was sentenced to 11 years jail in 2009 over the violent rape of a Sydney woman in 2007.

A former model, Monteiro was nicknamed the “Playboy rapist” for bragging about his glamorous life in which he claimed to have had relationships with Mariah Carey and Barbara Hershey.

After his release from custody, a judge granted authorities a five-year extended supervision order (ESO) to restrict his movements and protect the community.

Monteiro, who has always maintained his innocence of the rape charge, is now fighting to have the ESO overturned, claiming it should never have been put on in the first place.

Simon Monteiro leaves the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday. Picture: NewsWire / Christian Gilles

Representing himself in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday for a preliminary hearing in the case, Monteiro delivered an at times fiery account detailing the traumatic impact the order was having on his everyday life, saying he was unable to properly work, earn a living or have any intimate relationships without being accused of breaching the order.

“I mean, your Honour – and this isn’t a threat, I’m not a suicidal person, I’m a very positive person – this order stays, and I’m going to take my life,” he said.

Monteiro also laid blame for his situation squarely at the feet of the media, saying relentless and sensational reporting – much of which he claimed was “lies” – had led to him receiving death threats, unwanted late night visits at the home he shares with his elderly father and cost him a $3000-a-week job after just two days in the position.

He asked the court to put a gag order in place preventing the media from reporting his name in connection with the case.

Monteiro in an undated photo.

Monteiro spent time behind bars for raping a woman in Sydney.

“My life’s in danger, and my 90-year-old father’s life is in danger,” Monteiro told the court.

“There’s people turning up and trying to kill me at my house, there’s death threats on [my] phone that come from the media [attention].

“I just don’t want to live like this. It’s not a life, this is just an existence, and I can’t survive.”

He argued his case was “not in the public interest” and raised further threats of suicide if the reporting continued.

However, Justice Richard Button refused Monteiro’s application for a non-publication order, noting the already extensive reporting of his court proceedings would make such an order futile.

He also found Monteiro had not established that such as order was “necessary”, as required under the legislation.

The matter was adjourned to next month to give Monteiro time to consider an appeal over the refusal of the non-publication order, and whether he wishes to pursue a separate application calling for Justice Button to recuse himself.

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