British girl kidnapped and raped by drifter in eight weeks of hell in Australian Outback
A TATTOOED drifter yesterday admitted kidnapping and repeatedly raping a British backpacker in a terrifying eight-week ordeal in the Australian Outback.
The 22-year-old woman from Liverpool needed hospital treatment for her injuries, including facial fractures.
Marcus Martin, 23, took her on a horrific 900-mile journey after she was charmed by him at a party and agreed to go on a “road trip”.
Appearing before Cairns district court in north Queensland via video link, he admitted three charges of rape and one of deprivation of liberty after kidnapping the woman in February last year.
Heavily-tattooed Martin, who has markings on his face, has a history of violence, the court was told.
In 2013 he spent six months in prison after attacking a pizza delivery driver with a plank of wood while high on LSD.
Saved
The British woman, who worked as a hairdresser, was saved by police in March last year after a worried petrol station attendant noted the number of Martin’s 4x4.
The victim had stumbled, badly bruised, into the remote petrol station “zombie-like” and in tears before driving away without paying for fuel.
She told police her ordeal began when she was befriended by Martin at an Australia Day party in Cairns in January.
According to friends, the young woman fell under Martin’s “spell” and agreed to go on a road trip into the Outback.
But within days the relationship soured as drug-user Martin became obsessive and violent.
The first attack, in which the woman was raped, choked and savagely beaten, took place a week into the trip, on February 3.
In mid-February, she was gagged with a towel and threatened with punishment if she tried to leave him.
After forcing her to do most of the driving, Martin destroyed her passport and stole her wallet and credit cards.
Her ordeal ended in March in the small town of Mitchell, more than 600 miles south of Cairns, when the victim stopped to fill up Martin’s white Mitsubishi Pajero with petrol.
Station attendant Beverley Page recalled the young woman being in a “state of shock when she came in, almost zombie-like”.
She noticed that she was shaking uncontrollably with tears streaming down her face and was unable to pay for the fuel. “I made the decision to follow her because I thought that if I could get the registration number I’d be able to file a report to the police,” she said.
A dramatic rescue took place hours later with police pulling the 4x4 over and finding her captor crouched in the back, hiding in a compartment.
Detective Inspector Paul Hart, from Queensland Police, said she had been subjected to a “horrific and terrifying” experience.
The case returns to court next February, for a sentencing date to be set.