'I’ve been kidnapped': Tourist rescued after desperate message to only Aussie friend 3000km away
A European tourist allegedly held against her will and raped southeast of Adelaide sent a message pleading for help to her only Australian friend, 3000km away, which led to her rescue.
A 52-year-old Meningie man is expected to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court today on charges related to an alleged detainment and sex attack of a tourist.
The man was arrested at a property at Meningie on Saturday and charged with three counts of rape and one count of unlawful detention.
The woman in her 20s, who is now in police care, managed to send the desperate message to a friend in remote Queensland with a laptop from her backpack, after her alleged captor confiscated her mobile phone.
The friend, who the tourist met in China about a year ago was working on a passionfruit farm in Atherton and alerted the farm owner Chris Newman, who contacted the police.
“[The message said] I’ve been kidnapped, they’ve taken me out into the country two hours from Murray Bridge,” Mr Newman told The Adelaide Advertiser on Sunday night.
“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’, or something like that.
“It said: ‘I don’t want to run away because he said he’ll shoot me’, (or) something to that extent.”
“[The friend’s] English is not the best but she said: ‘I don’t know what to do, I don’t even know the number for the police’.
“She was the only friend she [the victim] had in Australia.”
The victim left her tourist accommodation in Adelaide's CBD and boarded a bus to Murray Bridge on Thursday morning.
She was reportedly planning to meet a man who responded to her Gumtree advertisement seeking fruit-picking or farm work.
Police believe the man who responded to the young woman's ad picked the tourist up at the bus stop.
“She placed an ad on Gumtree. That person responded to that ad,” Inspector Greg Hutchins told 7 News.
She was found at a Murray Bridge motel on Friday, thanks to a tip-off from a member of the public. Police have not revealed how the woman came to be at the address.
Premier Jay Weatherill said the incident is a matter of grave concern and he hoped it will be investigated quickly.
"We don't want to see any individual in our state the victim of a crime," Mr Weatherill said on Sunday
"These are awful incidents and we want to eliminate them entirely if we can."
"The victim is with police and is not physically harmed," Insp Hutchins said.
The Meningie man has been in police custody since his arrest and is expected to be charged with abduction and serious sex offences.
Newsbreak – February 13
