Man Who Kidnapped, Repeatedly Raped Woman Backpacker Pleads Guilty

An Australian man pleaded guilty to kidnapping a British woman who was on a backpacking trip across the former's nation and repeatedly raping her within a span of over a month.

On Friday, Marcus Allyn Keith Martin, 23, pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and one count of deprivation of liberty of a 22-year backpacker between February and March last year, the Telegraph reported.

The accused had pleaded guilty to an array of other charges in the past, including assault occasioning bodily harm, willful damage, and strangulation or choking.

Martin met the victim in a party in Cairns in late January 2017 and the two soon started a relationship, agreeing to a road trip through Queensland, Australia.

However, the woman told the authorities shortly after they started the road trip, the accused began holding her against her will and abusing her.

The police were alerted to the backpacker’s situation after Beverley Page, the owner of the petrol station, contacted the authorities after she witnessed the victim stumble into her facility in a bruised and traumatized state and left without paying.

“She came in, she couldn’t pay for her fuel,” Page said. “She was crying and shaking the whole time — she was really upset. There were two marks on her neck along with the black eyes.”

The victim was finally rescued March 5, 2017, when the police located Martin’s vehicle near Mitchell, a small rural town about 900 miles south of Cairns. The accused was discovered hiding in an alcove in the rear end of the four-wheeler.

In describing the ordeal the victim had gone through, Detective Inspector Paul Hart at the time praised the bravery shown by the woman, adding she did not have many opportunities to escape from her captor.

“What she's experienced is no doubt horrific and terrifying,” he said in 2017. “She is a tourist, a lot of the areas where she would have been would have been unknown to her, and she wouldn't have known anyone there, so it would have been difficult for her to make an escape.”

Following her rescue, the victim had to be hospitalized for the treatment of multiple injuries, including facial fractures, the Guardian reported.

After Martin pleaded guilty to the charges Friday, the prosecutors agreed to drop a host of other charges against him, including eight counts of rape, one of serious cruelty to animals, and torture.

Martin was remanded in police custody and is scheduled to appear before the court for sentencing Feb. 11, 2019.