A serial offender who scores of men in Perth has been released on parole after spending more than two decades in prison.
Warning: This story contains details of sexual assault.
Kok Foo Lim was convicted of a series of sexual assaults, totalling 44 offences, committed between March 2003 and August 2007. Police identified 22 men who had been assaulted. His convictions included 29 counts of unlawful and indecent assault and 15 counts of sexual penetration without consent.
In 2009 the WA Supreme Court heard that Lim cruised Perth’s streets looking for heavily intoxicated young men. He would pick them up in his car and take them to his Tuart Hill home, where he assaulted them and recorded the assaults. The recordings were retained for his own sexual gratification.
He would later drop the men near their homes, with many waking and not knowing how they had arrived there. It was suggested during proceedings that some victims may have been drugged, although there was no medical evidence to substantiate this.
Investigators also found a notebook containing the names of approximately 150 men, along with notes detailing alleged assaults. Although Lim was tried over the assaults of 22 victims, authorities believe the total number of victims may be significantly higher, potentially including as many as 80 additional victims.
Many victims were unaware they had been assaulted until they were contacted by police. The crimes came to light during an investigation into the stabbing of a 32-year-old man. Lim had offered the man a lift while claiming to be an off-duty taxi driver. When police attended Lim’s home to interview him, he attempted to dispose of videotapes containing recordings of the assaults by throwing them into a neighbour’s yard. The neighbour later recovered the tapes and handed them to police.
During the trial, Lim claimed the sexual activity had been consensual; however, the trial judge rejected this evidence and found he had little understanding of consent.
Lim was originally sentenced to 20 years and two months in prison, which was reduced on appeal to 16 years and eight months. He became eligible for parole in October 2025. He was 43 years old when he was sentenced in 2009.
In granting parole, the Parole Board noted his completion of rehabilitation programs and said he had demonstrated motivation to avoid reoffending.
His release is subject to strict conditions, including abstaining from alcohol, not entering licensed premises, complying with an evening curfew, and a prohibition on working as a taxi driver. He will remain under supervision until August 2027.
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QLife: 1800 184 527 / qlife.org.au
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