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UK backpacker beaten and raped in eight-week ordeal in Australia, police say UK backpacker beaten and raped in eight-week ordeal in Australia, police say
(about 9 hours later)
A young British tourist was allegedly raped and assaulted repeatedly while held captive on a road trip through outback Australia. A young British backpacker is recovering in hospital in Australia after being raped and repeatedly assaulted during a two-month ordeal in the outback, according to police.
The harrowing ordeal for the 22-year-old ended on Sunday afternoon when officers pulled over a four-wheel-drive in a routine traffic stop at Mitchell, about 600km west of Brisbane, Queensland police said. The woman, who has not been named, was rescued by traffic officers near a small outback town in Queensland during a routine stop.
The visibly distressed woman at the wheel, who had facial fractures, bruises and cuts, told officers of her ordeal and alerted them to her attacker hiding in a storage alcove in the back of the vehicle, police said. Her attacker, who she met at the beginning of January at a party in Cairns, was discovered hiding in a storage alcove in the back of the four-wheel drive.
Inspector Paul Hart said the pair, who met at a dance party outside Cairns in January, had briefly been in “a relationship that’s obviously soured.” Inspector Paul Hart, who is leading the investigation, said the woman was visibly traumatised and had severe bruising to her face and neck. She told the officers who pulled her over that her attacker was hiding in the back of the SUV; they found him hiding under clothes.
“It’s tragic for the poor woman,” Hart told Guardian Australia. “What’s happened to this young lady is quite catastrophic,” Hart said.
Police were investigating the possibility her alleged attacker had fled Cairns after a falling out with drug associates, Hart said. The police were alerted to the woman’s ordeal when she left a nearby petrol station without paying. The attendant alerted local traffic officers who followed the vehicle thinking they were carrying out a relatively routine stop.
Police pulled over the vehicle on a highway outside of Mitchell about 5pm on Sunday after a petrol station worker reported it left without paying for fuel. Hart said: “It was on the face of it a pretty innocuous sort of job but from that she’s taken the opportunity to tell police what’s gone on and that fact that he’s still in the car. They’ve jumped on it from there and located him in the back portion where he’s retreated. They’ve obviously been living in the car.”
“It was on the face of it a pretty innocuous sort of job but from that she’s taken the opportunity to tell police what’s gone on and that fact that he’s still in the car,” Hart said. Police say the woman was raped four times, as well as being repeatedly beaten and choked, between 2 January and 5 March. This included attacks during the 1,360km road trip that began last week in Cairns and ended when the police pulled over the white SUV near the outback town of Roma, about 600km west of Brisbane, Queensland on Sunday.
“They’ve jumped on it from there and located him in the back portion where he’s retreated. They’ve obviously been living in the car.” The woman is understood to be recovering in hospital in Brisbane. A spokeswoman for the British high commission said consular officials were supporting her and were in contact with her family in the UK.
Police allege the woman was raped four times, as well as being repeatedly beaten and choked, between 2 January and 5 March. This included on a journey beginning last week that stretched at least 1,360km from Cairns in the far north and south to the outback town of Roma. The man, a 22-year-old from the Cairns suburb of Manunda, has already appeared in court on more than 20 charges, including four counts of rape, eight counts of assault, four of strangulation and two of deprivation of liberty. He is also facing drug charges. Police believe he also damaged the backpacker’s passport, meaning she could not leave the country.
An unnamed service station worker told the Daily Mail that she had offered to call police for the young woman after seeing her crying and “shaking uncontrollably”. Hart said the pair had briefly been in a relationship before the woman was held against her will and repeatedly attacked.
They spoke for 10 minutes before the woman left without paying, she said. An unnamed worker at the service station where the woman left without paying told the Daily Mail that she had offered to call police for the young woman after seeing her crying and shaking uncontrollably.
The woman is understood to be recovering in hospital in Brisbane. They spoke for 10 minutes before the victim said she could not pay for the fuel because her ex-boyfriend had her wallet and credit cards. The attendant said she would call the police and at that stage the woman left.
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. “I asked her where she was from – meaning where had she driven from – and she misunderstood my question and said ‘from England’,” the service station worker said.
Hart said the pair may have been travelling to Charleville where the woman’s alleged attacker claimed to have lined up employment. “I’d already guessed that because she had a very English accent. There’s no doubt that she was upset and I thought it was because of not being able to pay but now I know the circumstances I realise her tears were because of what she was going through.”
The 22-year-old man, from the Cairns suburb of Manunda, has already faced court on more than 20 charges. They include four counts of rape, eight counts of assault, four of strangulation and two of deprivation of liberty. He is also facing drug charges. She added: “I asked her if her black eyes were due to her ex-boyfriend and she nodded. I was very concerned about her, but I didn’t expect her to just walk out, get in the vehicle and drive off.”
“We would certainly say that what’s happened to this young lady is quite catastrophic,” Hart earlier told ABC radio. “There are numerous supports that have been put in place [for the victim].” Police stopped the vehicle about 15 minutes drive west along the Warrego highway towards Charleville.
The Cairns man remains in custody after facing a court in Roma on Monday.
Australian Associated Press contributed to this report