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Bulli rapist Terry John Williamson was a Christian man living with his "hard-working" Christian parents in their Corrimal home at the time of the brutal attacks.
His mother and father had no idea that it was their loving son who was terrorising the community at night, raping women and children and threatening them with a nine-centimetre knife.
Reports at the time described Williamson as a person of below-average intelligence who was working as a tow-truck driver and labourer during his 10-month reign of terror over the Illawarra.
He had few friends and was socially shy. He came from a stable family with no poverty or history of criminality. He was not mentally ill and was considered sane by three psychiatrists.
His father, Albert Williamson, was a domineering man who had often been violent to his mother and son. He died from a heart attack in the year following his son's arrest. Family members believed Albert's premature death was brought on by his son's heinous sex crimes.
In December 1991, the Mercury reported that the Bulli rapist had a strong sexual drive and a preoccupation with aggression. He had issues relating to women.
At a sentencing hearing, the NSW Supreme Court heard he had raped his first victim several months after "he got the idea to rape a woman" when he saw a young girl walking alone to her home.
To him she was an opportunity.
Williamson told a psychiatrist that when he was raping and terrorising children and women he felt angry and powerful. He did not think about the victim's feelings and their pleas did not affect him.
He has remained close to his mother Robyn Williamson throughout his time in jail. In a letter to the Mercury in 1991, she apologised to the victims for her son's crimes.
She said when she discovered her son was the Bulli rapist she had wanted to disown him, but couldn't.
To support the Bulli rapist's first victim in her campaign to have Terry John Williamson placed under supervision for the remainder of his life click here.
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