Victims of Bondi Beast rapist Keith Simms reveal bizarre words he said to them after sexual assault

Immediately after holding a knife to helpless women’s throats and brutally sexually assaulting them, serial predator Keith Simms uttered the words “I love you” and “Thank you”, revealed two of his victims.

Simms, who has been dubbed the ‘Bondi Beast’, has been linked to 31 sexual assaults in the eastern suburbs of Sydney between 1985 and 2001.

Police used DNA technology to identify him this month, but the positive identification came nine months too late – Simms had died of kidney failure in February, aged 66.

Two of his victims, Jennifer, 69, and Linda, 52, recalled the horrific moment they came face to face with one of Australia’s worst rapists in an interview with Nine’s 60 Minutes.

Jennifer was a community liaison nurse and was sleeping in her staff quarters at Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick when she was attacked in 1987.

Simms, wearing a baclava, entered her bedroom through a window and threatened her with a knife before raping her.

Jennifer recalled Simms saying “I love you”, as he left, describing his utterance as “dirty, filthy and disgusting”.

Linda, who was sexually assaulted in 1994, was at the Coogee Bay Hotel heading home along a coastal track when Simms ran behind her wearing a balaclava and clutching a knife.

After the attack at the top of the cliff, he said: “Thank you”.

“Which was really disturbing,” Linda said.

“I think it just shows his level of depravity to tell someone that.”

She deduced that Simms saw her at the Coogee Bay Hotel and followed her from the venue once she left.

Jennifer (pictured) was sexually assaulted by Simms in 1987 when he entered her bedroom He told her he ‘loved’ her after the assault

Linda (pictured) was followed home by Simms in 1994 after she left the Coogee Bay Hotel and was raped along a coastal track Simms said ‘thank you’ after the assault

Simms has been identified by DNA technology as responsible for a dozen sexual assaults in Sydney’s east end. He was also linked to at least 19 other people.

Armed with a knife and disguised as a balaclava, Simms attacked vulnerable girls as young as 13 and women as old as 55.

A 16-year-old girl he raped in Bondi in 1986 became pregnant and aborted.

Simms ambushed some of his victims in their homes in the middle of the night or early in the morning.

He put his hand over their mouths, threatened them with death and sexually assaulted them. At other times, he targeted women in isolated areas walking alone.

For decades, the police worked to uncover who was behind this reign of terror, but in the search for the predator also known as the “Centennial Park Rapist” and the “Tracksuit Rapist”, Simms never made the point. subject of an investigation.

Keith Simms attacked vulnerable girls as young as 13 and women as old as 55

For decades, police have worked to identify the predator, also known as “The Centennial Park Rapist” and “The Tracksuit Rapist.” Pictured are two artists’ impressions used by police before Simms was eventually identified

A breakthrough finally came in 2016 when DNA samples taken from crime scenes were matched to one of his male relatives, but the reduction to Simms came too late to bring him to justice.

The father of three and grandfather of five died of kidney failure aged 66 in February.

When detectives informed Simms’ wife that she had been married to a serial rapist for nearly 44 years, she couldn’t believe what she was being told.

Sex Crimes Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Jayne Doherty said Simms had never been in trouble with the law for serious offenses and did not suffer from mental illness, drug or alcohol problems.

“As far as we know, through all the investigations he was never on the radar and so he didn’t have all of these normal triggers, so by not having them he probably helped to stay so anonymous” , she told the Daily Telegraph.

For confidential information, advice and support, contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).