Serial rapist who drugged, raped victims jailed for nearly three decades

A former immigration agent who lured international students to his office, pretending to offer them work, before drugging and raping them, has been jailed for nearly three decades.

A serial rapist has been jailed for almost three decades for drugging and raping multiple victims.

A serial rapist who sedated women with laced drinks before documenting his vile abuse has been jailed for nearly three decades.

Frank Hu, 38, showed little emotion on Friday as he was jailed for 29 years with a non-parole period of 22 years after admitting to eight rolled up rape charges that amounted to 69 rapes on 48 separate occasions against two female victims.

The former immigration agent also pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault, three of intentionally causing injury and one charge of recklessly causing seriously injury against seven women.

Most of Hu’s victims were international students who were lured to his Little Collins St office under the pretence of job interviews, offers or trials for administrative roles.

In his sentencing remarks, County Court Judge Trevor Wraight described Hu’s crimes as “terrifying”, with his victims left defenceless after they were rendered unconscious by drinks including juices and hot chocolates laced with sedatives.

“Your offending involved considerable planning, multiple victims and extended over a number of years,” he said.

“(It) is appalling and must be condemned in the strongest terms.”

“Your conduct was cold, calculated and repetitive.”

In one instance, one of Hu’s victims had such an adverse reaction to the drugs that she went into cardiac arrest and required resuscitation.

A sample of the drugs used to sedate Frank Hu’s victims.

Hu laced his victims’ drinks with sedatives before raping them.

The woman, who was on her first day of work as a translator, later recalled her drink tasting “bitter” before she woke up in an intensive care unit.

Hu documented his vile abuse in thousands of videos and photographs, many of which he uploaded to a graphic fetish website which depicted sleeping women being raped.

He later told a psychiatrist he was sexually aroused by unconscious women and after his first victim he “opened up the wrong door in (his) brain”.

The rapist’s offending took place over three years between 2016 and 2019, with a number of victims reporting to police and hospitals that they feared they had been drugged.

Several women reported feeling nauseous after accepting drinks on Hu’s insistence, with one victim fleeing from his office after noticing white powder falling from the straw of her juice. Hu called ambulances for a number of his victims after they passed out.

Hu's office where the abuse took place. Picture: Supplied

Police launched an investigation after Australian Border Force officials discovered images and footage of unconscious women on Hu’s mobile phone at Melbourne Airport.

But the investigation stalled until victims, who police could not identify in the footage, came forward. Most of Hu’s charges related to one woman who was depicted in more than a 1000 images and 190 videos taken without her knowledge.

At a pre-sentence hearing in February, the woman sobbed as she described how she suffered tormenting dreams and was unwilling to share her trauma with her traditional Chinese family. “There is absolutely no way I can share this experience with my parents. How could I let them know that I had been drugged and raped,” she said.

Hu's office where the abuse took place. Picture: Supplied

After his arrest in August 2019, Hu admitted having consensual sex with the woman before continuing after she fell asleep.

He told investigators “when she fall asleep it doesn’t mean stop” and the woman was told about the filming afterwards.

Hu appeared via video link from Hopkins prison requiring the assistance of a Mandarin interpreter as the judge made his remarks.

Hu, who has already served more than 3½ years behind bars and will be a registered sex offender for life, will be eligible for supervised release in 2041.