AUSTRALIAN police have rescued a 22-year-old Liverpudlian backpacker who was allegedly held hostage, raped, and assaulted by a man she met at a party.
The two had reportedly met at a “bush doof”, a rave, on the outskirts of city of Cairns in Queensland in Australia, at the end of January.
They briefly dated, before he then took over her life, police allege.
Her kidnapper is a 22-year-old man from New South Wales, who cannot be named for legal reasons. The couple were in Cairns until last week when the man then forced the woman on a 600m road trip through the Australian outback.
Arresting officer Acting Sergeant David Harper believes the two had been living in the car for the last week, with the woman doing the bulk of the driving, and her attacker hiding in a secret compartment in the back of the four wheel drive.
During that last journey they had stopped at a petrol station, where the clearly injured and visibly upset woman spent ten minutes talking to a member of staff.
The young woman said she had no money and her ex-boyfriend had her purse.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, he said: “She had two black eyes and marks down the side of her neck.
“She was crying. She was shaking uncontrollably...
“She had only just come in here and she couldn’t pay for the fuel.”
“The boss thought the girl was running away from an abusive relationship,” they added, “She went back out to the car supposedly to ring someone and then drove away.”
That petrol station staff member then followed the car, and managed to flag down a police patrol car. The cops soon caught up with the two.
“Her demeanour and her injuries alerted police that there was something more to the story,” Sergeant Harper said.
“[the alleged attacker] was hiding in an alcove in the rear of the vehicle under a mattress,” he added.
“The allegations (are) that he’s made threats to her in relation to alerting any person or police.”
“She was gagged at one point with a towel and the offender, by using threats, has caused her to remain in that room,” he said.
“I can’t really go into detail into the exact threats but he did verbally threaten and physically assault the victim.”
The accused, who tried to escape police, was refused bail in the Roma Magistrates Court and remanded in custody until his next appearance on May 23.
He is facing rape, strangulation and assault charges, as well as two counts of deprivation of liberty, causing wilful damage, possessing drugs and drug equipment, and obstructing police.
Police said there were also outstanding arrest warrants for the man.
Cops added that the British woman had been in Australia since 2015 and is not believed to have been reported missing at any point during the last two months.
The woman is understood to be recovering in hospital in Brisbane and has now been in touch with family.
A spokeswoman for the British high commission said consular officials were supporting the woman. “We are in really close contact with her and her family in the UK,” she said.
A friend of the woman told Daily Mail Australia that the British backpacker had known her alleged attacker for just one and a half weeks before he changed his Facebook profile to “married”.
“He was really clingy it was like he just blew in to town and latched on to the first single girl,” he claimed.
“When he changed his relationship status on Facebook I thought it was too fast - she never changed hers.”
Detective Inspector Paul Hart said had they not found the woman then she may have been murdered.
“We have potentially saved this young girl’s life, given what’s happened to her, the extent of what’s happened and over the period of time, anything may have transpired,” he said.
He said it looked like they had been living in that vehicle and she was being forced to drive the man to different locations.
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