Mum drove daughter to rapist

Detectives are determined to find a fat man with bulging blue eyes who raped a young Queensland girl with the help of her mother more than a decade ago.

Peta Butler was a teenager when her mother, Therese Butler, arranged for her to be raped by an obese, well-dressed man.

Butler drove her daughter from Brisbane to a Toowoomba hotel, and sat outside the room smoking while the man attacked her.

Butler was convicted of her role in the crime earlier this year, after her daughter finally went to police in 2016 and told them what she had endured.

Ms Butler, who is now 27, was either 15 or 16 at the time her mother sold her for sex, with the offence occurring in either late 2005 or early 2006.

Detectives are determined to find the man who attacked her all those years ago, and with her help have produced a computer-generated image, hoping someone will recognise him. Police believe he's likely to have preyed on other girls and women.

He's thought to have been in his mid to late 40s when he raped Ms Butler. At the time he was extremely obese and had a shaved head. He was about 175cm tall, with distinctive, bulging blue eyes.

He was wearing an expensive suit and drove a car with cream coloured leather seats and was known only as Thommo. He would now be in his 50s and it's believed he used an email address similar to thommo_thommo_thommo@hotmail.com.

"Anyone who believes they have been hurt by this man is urged to visit their local police station and speak with investigators," police said on Tuesday.

Ms Butler has consented to the publication of her identity and has told journalists of the horror of her ordeal so many years ago.

Her mother told her they were going on a girls' weekend to Toowoomba, but when they arrived, Ms Butler was plied with alcohol, and sent to the bedroom of a cheap hotel room and forced to have sex.

She said her attacker didn't say a word, just walked in, undressed and removed her clothing.

"How could a mum sit outside knowing that their daughter is being raped by her potential boyfriend? I was hoping she was going to come in and stop it," she told the Nine network.

She said she wasn't strong enough to go to police any earlier than she did, and feared she would not be believed.

A phone call confession, extracted with the help of police, captures Butler telling her daughter, "I wouldn't have taken you down there unless you were 16."

Butler is serving a four-year jail term, suspended after 12 months, after pleading guilty to procuring a child for carnal knowledge.

Add a Comment