BRITON’S OUT BACK RAPE ORDEAL
Woman held BACK RAPE ORDEAL hostage for 2 months saved when petrol station staff spot injuries
A BRITISH backpacker was kidnapped and repeatedly raped in the Australian outback for two months by a tattooed drifter who befriended her at a party.
the 22-year-old woman was regularly choked, beaten and humiliated during a terrifying drive across Queensland by alleged kidnapper Marcus Martin.
she was finally saved when the owner of a petrol station in a small outback town noticed she had bruises on her face, was ‘shaking uncontrollably’ and walked ‘in a trance-like state’.
Police later stopped the white 4x4 car she was driving and allegedly found Martin, 22, hiding in a compartment in the back.
Martin has appeared in court charged with four counts of rape, eight counts of assault, four counts of strangulation and two of deprivation of liberty. He is also facing drug charges. Police say he is an Aus- tralian citizen. He claims on Facebook that he was born in Auckland, new Zealand.
Last night the woman was being counselled for trauma as police prepared to interview her about an ordeal they have described as ‘catastrophic’.
the victim, a hairdresser from Liverpool, started a relationship with Martin after they met at an outdoor dance party, known as a ‘doof’, in Cairns.
But within days the relationship began to sour as he became ‘obsessive and clingy’.
Her friend todd Leahy said: ‘ she obviously thought he was a handsome fella, a fun guy who was a bit crazy – but a bit too crazy, it turned out. He was the ultimate psycho boyfriend.’
After forcing her to drive across the outback, Martin destroyed her passport and stole her wallet and credit cards, it is alleged. He ordered her to do all the driving and would hide under a canopy in the back of their Mitsubishi Pajero whenever they approached a town.
During the 900-mile journey from Cairns to the tiny outback town of Mitchell the woman was repeatedly beaten, raped and threatened with more attacks if she complained.
some of the beatings were so savage that she suffered facial fractures, scratches and abrasions to the neck.
During one terrifying incident in a Cairns hotel room she was gagged with a towel and threat- ened with punishment if she tried to leave.
Martin allegedly ordered her to drive to the town of Charleville, where he claimed he had found work.
the victim’s injuries were finally spotted on sunday when she stopped for petrol in Mitchell, 110 miles from Charleville.
Wearing a summer dress, she sobbed as she told store owner Beverley Page: ‘ i’m sorry, i can’t pay. My ex-boyfriend has my wallet and credit cards.’
Miss Page told the Mail: ‘i could hardly believe what i was seeing. i thought her tears were tears of embarrassment because of the payment problem. But what struck me were her black eyes and marks down the side of her neck. she looked bad … shaking uncontrollably.
‘she was like a person in a trance. she leaned on the counter and the tears flowed down and i said, “is the ex-boyfriend the cause of this?” and pointed to her bruises.
‘she nodded and i asked if there was some way she could get someone to pay or if there was a chance of her getting her wallet back. she didn’t say anything. she was like a zombie, answering a few simple questions sometimes and then just being silent.
‘in the end she turned and walked out and i thought she was going to look for some money in the car. But she just got in, sat behind the wheel, started it up and drove out on
‘Black eyes and marks down her neck’ ‘Gagged with a towel’
to the main road.’ Miss Page considered trying to drive after her so she could note down the registration number.
Instead, she told police conducting a drink-drive operation nearby. Officers caught up with the car 15 minutes down the road and found Martin in the compartment.
Detective Inspector Paul Hart said officers noticed the British backpacker was ‘visibly distressed and had injuries to her face’.
‘It appears she was terrified and not able to hide that,’ he said. ‘We have potentially saved this girl’s life. It would seem as though they have been living in that vehicle and they’ve travelled throughout different parts of the state with her basically being told to take him to different locations. What has hap- pened to this lady is quite catastrophic. Her very prolonged ordeal has left her with physical and serious psychological injuries.’
The former Catholic schoolgirl travelled to Australia in 2015 on a working visa. Her trip appears to have started in Sydney before she travelled up the east coast.
She is understood to have told relatives in the UK about her ordeal in messages via Facebook.
Her friend Mr Leahy, 27, said he met Martin in Cairns and ‘disliked him pretty much straight away’, adding: ‘He told us he was in a bike gang and had guns and stuff but I thought that was all bull****.
‘He has tattoos all over him, even on his face. He was ripping people off, taking drugs without paying for them and stealing motorbikes … when things starting catch- ing up with him he skipped town.’ Mr Leahy said Martin had changed his Facebook profile to ‘married’ within two weeks of the relationship with the backpacker.
‘He was really clingy … he just blew in to town and latched on to the first single girl,’ he said. ‘When he changed his relationship status on Facebook I thought it was too fast. She never changed hers.’
Mr Leahy said he did not worry about the woman’s whereabouts initially as she had a tendency to ‘disappear’ for a few weeks. He met her in Cairns just before Christmas and said she was ‘very trusting’.
Martin appeared in court in Roma, Queensland, on Monday and was denied bail. He will appear in court again on May 23.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘ We are supporting a British woman following an incident in Queensland and remain in contact with the local authorities.’
‘Shaking uncontrollably’