A British backpacker who was kidnapped and forced to drive through the Outback by a face-tattooed Australian who beat and raped her along the way has told how she feared for her life as he held a gun to her head.
Elisha Greer, 23, was taken on the road trip from hell by Marcus Martin, 24, after they met at a party in Cairns, north Queensland in January 2017.
Ms Greer, whose disappearance made headlines around the world, was eventually rescued five weeks later after a petrol station worker spotted her looking ‘like a zombie in a state of shock’ and called police.
Now, the young woman from Liverpool has told how Martin held a gun to her head as they drove 1,500km (932miles) through the Outback.
Horrifying ordeal: Elisha Greer (pictured), 23, was taken on a road trip from hell by Marcus Martin, 24, after they met at a party in Cairns, north Queensland in January 2017
Marcus Allyn Keith Mitchell (pictured), 24, has pleaded guilty to raping and kidnapping the British tourist
‘I was forced to drive the car with the gun to my head,’ she said in a preview for an interview with Sunday Night.
Ms Greer said Martin seemed normal when their relationship began.
‘Yeah he seemed fun, he didn’t seem like a psycho,’ she said.
But she quickly learned he was ‘completely and utterly crazy’, while trapped in the car in the middle of nowhere.
Asked what she thought Martin would do if she refused to do what he told her, Ms Greer replied ‘he’d kill me.’
Ms Greer met Martin (pictured) in Cairns on 26 January, 2017 at an outdoor dance party, known as a ‘doof’
Ms Greer met Martin in Cairns on 26 January, 2017 at an outdoor dance party, known as a ‘doof’.
At the time, friends said the backpacker appeared to be under her attacker’s ‘spell’.
Within days the relationship began to sour as he became ‘obsessive and clingy.’
Martin raped Ms Greer in a hotel room in Cairns before kidnapping her.
From 1 March, he made her drive south for five days before the case culminated in the regional town of Mitchell.
Ms Greer had been driving a white Mitsubishi Pajero through Mitchell when she stopped at a petrol station to fill up.
The service station attendant, Beverley Page, remembered her being in a ‘state of shock when she came in, almost zombie like’.
The attendant said she had tears streaming down her face and was unable to pay for the fuel.
The assaults were brought to the attention of police after the British woman (pictured at the petrol station on CCTV) drove from a petrol station without paying
The pair drove together for nearly 1,500km (932 miles) before the woman was pulled over by police with Martin hiding in the back of the car (pictured)
‘She was in a state of shock when she came in, almost zombie-like,’ Ms Page said at the time. ‘Tears were running down her face.
‘To see a young girl that upset, and with black eyes. She had said she had come from England. To know that she was over here and she didn’t have anyone to contact,’ Ms Page said.
‘I made the decision to follow her because I thought that if I could get the registration number I’d be able to file a report to the police.’
The victim drove off without paying and the attendant immediately called police.
Martin and the British woman had been travelling together for two months in a Mitsubishi Pajero (pictured)
A dramatic rescue took place hours later when police pulled over the four-wheel drive, finding the distraught and badly beaten Ms Greer at the wheel.
An inspection of the car revealed her captor hiding in the back.
But Ms Greer told news.com.au she doesn’t want to be considered a ‘victim’ after her ordeal.
‘I just want people to know it’s okay…that being a victim isn’t the end of everything and that everyone can get through something.
‘I want people to know that it’s not the end for them.’
Martin was arrested and charged before pleading guilty in October last year to three counts of rape and one count of deprivation of liberty.
He earlier pleaded guilty to supplying dangerous drugs, willful damage, assault occasioning bodily harm and strangulation.
Prosecutors discontinued ten other charges of rape, cruelty to animals, and torture.
Martin is due to be sentenced on May 28.
Martin (pictured) was arrested and charged with rape, assault, strangulation and kidnap offences