An Australian man who kidnapped and raped a British backpacker during a horrific car trip hostage crisis was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison, according to Australia’s national broadcaster.
Marcus Martin, 24, pled guilty to three counts of rape and one count of deprivation of liberty in October.
The Cairns District Court heard that the man met the then-22-year-old traveller — Elisha Greer — at a dance party in Kuranda, Far North Queensland, in January 2017.
Martin, 25, appeared in Cairns District Court via video connection after pleading guilty to three counts of rape and one crime of deprivation of liberty over a one-month period last October.
He witnessed the proceedings from a Brisbane prison, clothed in a white T-shirt, tattoos covering his face, and hands clenched during the three-hour punishment.
On Tuesday afternoon, Judge Dean Morzone pronounced Martin a very violent offender, requiring him to serve at least 80 percent of his sentence.
Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane told the court that the couple “immediately” formed an intimate relationship, but within two weeks, Martin became violent, routinely “beating” her, raping her, and tearing up her British passport before embarking on a “harrowing” 1,600-kilometer road trip in an attempt to “isolate” her.
Martin’s lawyer, Joshua Trevino, told the court that the couple was in a “dysfunctional relationship” and used drugs together.
The court heard that the couple resided in Cairns for a few weeks, switching between hotel rooms and trailer sites.
Crane claimed that on one occasion, Martin requested access to the victim’s phone, accused her of being unfaithful, “gouged her eyes” with his thumbs, and choked her with her own handbag.
“He threw away her birth control pills so she would never leave him because she would have his child,” Crane told me.
Crane claimed Martin’s jealousy and “desire to control and isolate the victim” prompted the road trip from Cairns to Mitchell in south-west Queensland, where Martin frequently forced her to drive at gunpoint.
“She feared she would be murdered,” Crane added.
“She tried to get the attention of other road users as they would drive along and also other service station customers to no avail.”
In March 2018, police rescued the women when petrol station attendants reported her driving away without paying for fuel.
Authorities discovered Martin cowering in the vehicle’s back seat.
Australia is a popular destination for young backpackers, with over 600,000 visiting each year.
They periodically get in problems, most notably in the early 1990s when Ivan Milat murdered seven people in a string of killings that scared Australia.
Milat is serving consecutive life sentences after the bones of two Britons, three Germans, and two Australians were discovered buried in a woodland southwest of Sydney.