GUILTY Australia - DA, 24, Belgian, Murray Bridge, SA, 9 Feb 2017 *Arrest*

[JudgeJudi]

Gene Bristow, 54, has pleaded not guilty to aggravated kidnapping, rape and indecent assault.

At the beginning of the trial on Tuesday, 5 Feb., the prosecutor Michael Foundas, said Bristow lured the 24-year-old backpacker to his Meningie property by responding to an ad she posted on Gumtree looking for farm work. The response offered her work feeding and caring for calves on a farm near Murray Bridge purportedly operated by a company called "Genesis". The job offered to pay $20 an hour with "flexible working arrangements" and "free accommodation".

Foundas told the court that arrangements were made for her to be collected from Murray Bridge by a company employee called Max or Mark. He said the prosecution’s case is that there was no farming job, no company called Genesis and no employees named Max or Mark. Rather, it was a premeditated plan by Bristow to lure a young female backpacker to his farm where the unlucky victim would be held against her will and sexually abused by him. There is evidence that he had been trying to lure backpackers to his property for a number of weeks.

Instead of taking the most direct route to his property, he took a route which bypassed the town centre in order that locals didn’t see him with an unfamiliar young woman in his vehicle. This route also meant that he didn’t have to pass his residence on the property where his wife, son or son’s girlfriend might be.

www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-05/trial-begins-for-man-accused-of-kidnap-and-rape-of-backpacker/10782548

 

[JudgeJudi]

Bristow took the young woman to an old, dirty pig shed at the back of his property where he threatened her with a replica gun. He then tied her hands behind her back with cable ties, shackled her feet with chains, stripped her naked and raped her multiple times over the course of two days.

She was able to break free and used a laptop concealed in her luggage to send distress messages on Facebook to SA Police who then started searching for her. She then re-shackled herself because he had threatened to kill her if she tried to escape. When Bristow became aware of the police presence in the town, he unchained her and drove her back to Murray Bridge, checked her into a motel and departed.

The Defence don’t dispute she was at the property or that she spent the night in the pig shed. However they say she was not held against her will and that there was no sexual contact.

www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-05/trial-begins-for-man-accused-of-kidnap-and-rape-of-backpacker/10782548

 

[JudgeJudi]

Yesterday she told the court she thought she was going to die. Bristow had told her that he was working in collaboration with others who would collect girls, pump them with drugs and ship them to Sydney or Melbourne. He said the others would treat her worse than he did and that she had to behave or he would also beat her or cut her with knives.

During the night she managed to unscrew the bolts on the chains using small hooks she found in the shed.

She said that Bristow had taken her phone but her laptop — which had an internet dongle — was still with her luggage in the shed. She used Facebook to send distress messages to friends who were online at the time, including a friend in Cairns who contacted police.

She also contacted the SA police through an email she found on their website and sent a Facebook message to the Police Association of SA. She told police she was picked up by a man with a red “pickup” and that they went on two ferries before arriving at the farm. When asked why she didn’t try to run away, she said that Bristow had told her that the snakes were very dangerous and would bite her. If she hadn’t been found by the following night, she planned to run away.

The following day she and Bristow heard the sound of planes and he told her the police were everywhere and that they needed to leave. He said the police were corrupt, not to trust them, that they were working with the others and that they would ship her to Sydney.

www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-08/gene-charles-bristow-faces-trial-for-third-day/10794482

 

[DRT]

Man found guilty of abduction and rape of backpacker in 'dirty pig shed'

"A South Australian man has been found guilty of kidnapping and raping a European backpacker in February 2017.

Gene Charles Bristow, 54, stood trial in Adelaide's District Court charged with aggravated kidnapping, rape and indecent assault.

The court heard he held the 24-year-old woman captive in an old pig shed on his farm at Meningie for two days.

The jury took three hours to find him guilty of all charges.

Key points:

• The court heard Bristow held a backpacker captive in an old pig shed on his property
• While giving evidence, she said she thought she was going to die
• The jury took three hours to find him guilty of all charges"

 

[DRT]

SA man who kidnapped and raped backpacker refuses to pay victims of crime levy

Gene Bristow — who had lured a 24-year-old European backpacker to his Meningie farm, south-east of Adelaide, and raped her — refuses to pay the victims of crime levy because he is not an Australian citizen.

www.abc.net.au

Gene Bristow refusing to pay victims of crime levy because he isn't an Australian citizen.