MALAYSIAN-BORN sexual predator Lim Kok Foo has been jailed for 20 years by a Perth judge.

He pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting more than 20 young men.

Police believe there could be up to a 100 victims, based on Lim's notes of his attacks.

Between March 2003 and August 2007, Lim cruised the streets of Perth nightspots, offering intoxicated young men lifts home, telling him he was an off-duty cabby.

He took some men to his home, waited for them to pass out before filming them naked, fondling them and performing sex acts on them. He assaulted other victims in his car.

Most woke near their homes dazed and with no recollection of giving Lim their address or being assaulted.

Some suggested that they had been drugged, but the claims could not be proved because of a lack of medical evidence.

Lim, 43, from the Perth suburb of Tuart Hill, was sentenced in the West Australian District Court yesterday for 44 sexual offences and one count of unlawful wounding, the Australian Associated Press reported.

Lim's crimes were discovered in July 2007 after he repeatedly stabbed a man he had picked up, who had questioned whether he was a cab driver, reported WA Today.

Police raided his house after the man reported the matter to the police.

There they found videotapes of the assaults and notebooks containing personal details of his victims.

Lim told two detectives that he was an Edith Cowan University student who studied film and television, and that he would "love to be a director", reported Perth Now.

He said the videotapes, which he admitted to throwing over his neighbour's fence when police arrived at his house, were his "work" and featured naked men whom he had met at pubs and clubs.

"I love to draw men naked," Lim told police.

He said the videotapes and the notebooks were "for my script, for my books, for my passion". Lim told police the men came to his house "because they are keen on me, they come for good time".

He said the men removed their own clothes and sometimes he engaged in oral sex but not sexual intercourse.

He said he did not ask permission to record the men while they slept.

State Prosecutor Janelle Scutt called Lim one of the worst sex offenders Western Australia has seen.

She said he had no genuine remorse for humiliating and degrading the men aged between 17 and 25 years, particularly by videotaping the assaults which he viewed later for sexual gratification.

The judge agreed.

Lim had left a lasting impact on his victims, whom he had treated like "rag dolls who had things done to them", said Judge Troy Sweeney at his trial.

The case was unusual because of the number of victims and because many of the victims did not know they had been assaulted until contacted by police.

Some did not want to testify because were "excruciatingly embarrassed and ashamed" about their ordeal, Judge Sweeney said.

She said Lim was "truly a sexual predator".

"You found it tactically sound to display remorse at times throughout the trial," the judge said.

"You did not risk rejection because you preyed on men who didn't have a choice when drunk.

Judge Sweeney said Lim had demonstrated no regard for the basic rights of his victims.

She said he had told many deliberate lies and at times, his evidence was absurd.

Dysfunctional childhood

Lim was one of 13 children and his tyrannical father had remarried, making him one of 19 children.

He was teased for his effeminate tendencies and had preferred to hang out with his sisters rather than his robust, athletic brothers, Judge Sweeney said.

Lim's dysfunctional "childhood left its scar", she added.

After emigrating to Australia in 2000, Lim married but the union ended in 2004.

His crimes had started in 2003 when his marriage began to deteriorate.

Lim sat with his head in his hands and sobbed throughout yesterday's court appearance.

He will be eligible for parole two years before his sentence ends and only if he completes a sex offender treatment programme.

Outside the court, the man whom Lim stabbed said he was happy for those like him who had been hurt by the sexual predator.

"He deserves a lot more than that (the jail term)," the man said.

This article was first published in The New Paper.