Teen’s rape organised by mother, QLD Police hunting for rapist

Queensland Police are looking for a man accused of raping an underage teenage girl more than a decade ago. The victim’s mother was jailed earlier this year for organising the rape.

Peta Butler was only 15 or 16 years old when her mother took her on a “girls’ trip” to Toowoomba from their home in Brisbane. But what should have been a bonding trip with her mother turned into a horrible nightmare.

“They then went to a hotel room where there was a man waiting and her mum basically allowed this man to rape her,” Detective Senior Constable Jodi Bell said in a video. The offence occurred in either late 2005 or early 2006.

Butler, who is now 27, said her mother, Theresa Butler, gave her alcohol and sent her to a cheap hotel room, where a man in an expensive suit was waiting. She recalled that the man did not say a word to her but just walked in, undressed himself and removed her clothes.

“How could a mum sit outside knowing that their daughter is being raped by her potential boyfriend?” she told Nine Network’s “A Current Affair” on Monday. Theresa sat outside the bedroom smoking cigarettes while her child was being raped. “I was hoping she was going to come in and stop it. She knew what was happening.”

She described the man as someone who had bulging blue eyes with dark circles underneath and was extremely obese. He had a shaved head with some stubbles and he drove an expensive car with cream-coloured leather seats. He was estimated to be in his mid-40s at that time, so he is believed to be in his 50s now.

Authorities only know the man as “Thommo,” with an email address similar to thommo_thommo_thommo@hotmail.com. They urge anyone with information to come forward to help with the case.

Butler, who consented to the publication of her name, said that it took her a decade to come forward because she didn’t believe she was strong enough at that time, fearing that people would think she was lying. She went to the police in 2016 to report the crime.

With the help of police, a phone conversation between the mother and daughter procured the confession that would help bring Theresa to justice. Theresa was arrested in October 2016. She was sentenced to four years in prison, suspended after 12 months, for procuring a child for carnal knowledge in January of this year.