Elisha Greer. CREDIT: Hotspot Media.
When Elisha Greer, 25, met Marcus Martin at a party, it was the start of a terrifying month. Here in her own words she tells her shocking story…
Sun rays baked my skin as I sipped on cold beer.
‘This is the life,’ I said to myself.
For the past 18 months, I’d been backpacking along the east coast of Australia. Now I was in Cairns, Qld, where I was living and working.
One night, I went to a party with some friends and met a man called Marcus, 22. We got chatting and he seemed friendly. I dropped him home later that night and we exchanged numbers. A few days later, he texted me.
Fancy grabbing sushi? he said.
Sounds good! I replied.
It was nice to have a friend to hang out with. Then two weeks later, during a night out, Marcus got really drunk.
‘This is my girlfriend,’ he slurred to other drinkers.
Alarm bells started to ring but he seemed tense so I didn’t correct him. Then later that night, back in my hotel room, Marcus went berserk.
‘You’ve been getting with other guys!’ he raged, smashing up the room.
He’s crazy! I realised.
Then, he pounced on me and choked me until I passed out.
When I woke up, he was on top of me, pinning me down. Pulling down my undies, he raped me. I couldn’t fight him off as terror took over my body. Afterwards he took my passport and my phone.
‘I’ll keep hold of these,’ he raged. ‘I’m in a gang,’ he sneered, as he showed me a knife he was carrying. ‘If you leave me, they’ll find you and your family and kill you.’
I bristled. There was no way I’d let anything happen to my family. I realised that I was under his control. A hostage.
After that we moved around Cairns, switching hotels every day. We only left our room if we had to and I’d noticed he had a gun. Over the following weeks, he beat me senseless. He punched me in the face repeatedly and tried to gouge out my eyes.
After he raped and attacked me, he acted remorseful. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
But I felt numb. At night while Marcus slept, I eyed his knife. I could stab him, I thought. Fear took over and I couldn’t do it. What if he woke up?
Then Marcus announced we were going on a road trip to Charleville in outback Queensland. ‘I’ve got some work lined up there,’ he said.
I drove for hours at gunpoint and only stopped for food and to sleep. And Marcus only let me out of the car to go to the shop or fill up at petrol stations. He even chucked my contraceptive pills out of the window.
‘I want to get you pregnant,’ Marcus smirked.
During our road trip, Marcus raped me again in the back of the car. Then he beat me. Spotting my face in the wing mirror, I gasped in shock.
Covered in bruises, I was unrecognisable.
So I devised an escape route – I’d refuse to pay for fuel at a servo so that staff would call the police. The next day we were low on fuel. So I headed into a gas station.
‘I don’t have enough money to pay for the petrol,’ I told him blankly. ‘And my partner beat me up.’
He reached under the desk. He’s calling the police! Instead he pulled out his wallet.
‘I’ll pay for it,’ he smiled.
‘Thank you,’ I managed to force out.
I climbed back into my car, feeling deflated.
The following day, after hundreds more miles, we ran out of petrol again in Mitchell, Qld. I filled my car with petrol then walked into the station.
‘I’ve been beaten up and I can’t afford the fuel,’ I blurted out. Before the attendant could react, I walked out the door and drove off.
I prayed she’d call the police.
We’d barely gotten two miles down the road when I saw flashing blue lights in the rear view mirror. A police car! They pulled me over while Marcus hid in the back.
I was too terrified to beg for help. I knew what Marcus was capable of. But instead of asking about my injuries, officers took me to the police station.
‘Can anyone pay your fuel bill?’ they asked.
I was gobsmacked. Reluctantly, I gave them my godparent Ian’s number. As soon as I heard my godfather’s voice, I broke down.
‘He’ll kill me, he’ll kill me,’ I blurted out.
‘Who?’ he said.
‘I can’t tell you,’ I sobbed.
Ian told officers to check the car and they found Marcus. He was arrested immediately. My three-week ordeal was over. Taken to Roma hospital, women’s health counsellors called my parents and Mum raced to be with me.
Doctors revealed my nose was completely shattered into several pieces and I needed re-constructive surgery to glue it back together. In October 2018, Marcus Allyn Keith Martin, 24, appeared at Cairns District Court and pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and one count of deprivation of liberty.
He was later jailed for 10 years.
Marcus shouldn’t be allowed back into society. Now I’m speaking out to take back control of my situation.
Despite going the journey of hell, I’ve come out of the other side and I’m a survivor.
‘Control and domination’
Handing down Martin’s 10-year sentence in May, Judge Dean Morzone declared Martin a serious violent offender, meaning he must serve at least 80 per cent of his sentence. ‘You exerted control and domination through physical abuse and torment … psychological, emotional humiliation and degradation,’ he told Martin.
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