Australian man who raped and kidnapped British backpacker jailed for 10 years

An Australian man who raped and kidnapped a British backpacker has been jailed for 10 years.
Australian man who raped and kidnapped British backpacker jailed for 10 yearsAustralian man who raped and kidnapped British backpacker jailed for 10 years
Australian man who raped and kidnapped British backpacker jailed for 10 years

Marcus Allyn Keith Martin, 24, was sentenced at Cairns District Court on Tuesday, having previously pleaded guilty to the rape and deprivation of liberty of Elisha Greer, from Liverpool.

Miss Greer, who travelled to Australia in 2015 when aged 22 and met Martin in 2017, told TV programme This Morning she had been repeatedly beaten and raped by her attacker, who threatened he would hurt her family if she ever left.

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She said he stayed with her after meeting him at a party, before they were both evicted from her accommodation and travelled round Queensland in a car for weeks.

She said: "He pretty much changed my mind to believe that if I ever was away from him he'd murder me.

"It all became a little bit numb. So you sort of, not get used to it, but you don't think about it any more so it just becomes normal."

She said Martin, who was often high on crystal meth, had paranoid thoughts and believed she was from Interpol.

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In her efforts to get away, Ms Greer said she once wrote "please help me" in a visitors' book somewhere they visited.

Martin was eventually caught when she drove away from a petrol station without paying for fuel, in the hope police would arrest them.

Miss Greer was bruised and battered when she was rescued by police on the outback highway near Mitchell, about 600km west of Brisbane.

The service station manager Beverley Page told reporters at the time Miss Greer was crying and shaking when she explained she could not pay for fuel because her ex-boyfriend had her wallet.

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When officers pulled their vehicle over on the Warrego Highway, they found Martin hiding in the back.

Miss Greer said 10 charges against Martin, eight of rape, one of serious cruelty to animals and one of torture, had been dropped - but he had pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and one count of deprivation of liberty.

She said: "I'm happy that it's finally going to be over but I am a bit annoyed that he is not getting all of the sentencing done, because I don't think that's fair."