Advertisement
Home REAL LIFE

The chilling message woman sent after allegedly being abducted and raped at remote farmhouse

'I dont want to run because he'll shoot me'
7 News

A Belgian backpacker who was allegedly abducted and raped in South Australia sent a desperate message to her friend with clues to her location.

Advertisement

The 24-year-old tourist sent the message from her laptop to her only friend in Australia who was working on a passionfruit farm in Queensland, more than 3,000km away.

According to the Adelaide Advertiser, the friend – whose English skills were limited – then showed the messages to farm owner Chris Newman, 61.

‘(It said) I’ve been kidnapped, they’ve taken me out into the country two hours from Murray Bridge,’ Mr Newman told the Adelaide Advertiser.

‘It described going over two ferries, (then it said) they’ve taken my phone, I’ve got my laptop out of my backpack and I’ve sent a message. It said: ‘I don’t want to run away because he said he’ll shoot me.”

Advertisement

The man, 52, is alleged to have abducted the woman after answering her Gumtree ad looking for work and taken her to a Mengingie farmhouse, where he held her against her will and raped her.

After her messages sparked a manhunt, the victim was found at a motel in Murray Bridge last Friday before police arrested her alleged attacker on Saturday in Meningie.

He has been charged with three counts of rape and one count of unlawful detention, but he is not accused of making threats with a gun.

 

Advertisement

The man is expected to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court today.

Related stories


Advertisement