Cops: Tourist Held, Raped Over 2 Months in Australia

Cairns man in custody after traffic stop on Sunday
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 7, 2017 9:39 AM CST
Cops: Tourist Held, Raped Over 2 Months in Australia
A vehicle drives in northern Western Australia.   (Getty Images/samvaltenbergs)

"Horrific," "catastrophic," and "terrifying" are just a few words police in Queensland, Australia, are using to describe a two-month ordeal during which they say a British woman was held captive, beaten, and raped by a former lover. Authorities say the 22-year-old woman from Liverpool had been in Australia for more than a year when she met a 22-year-old man in Cairns in January and struck up a romantic relationship, per the Australian. They agreed to take a road trip together, but police say that after their relationship quickly "soured," the man held the woman against her will. The woman was kept at various locations from Jan. 2 until Sunday, when authorities "potentially saved this young girl's life," a detective tells the BBC.

After the woman reportedly failed to pay for gas, authorities pulled over her vehicle 620 miles south of Cairns and took note of cuts and bruises on her face and neck, per CNN. The woman—who police say was "visibly distressed"—then told officers that her captor was hiding under clothing in the back of the vehicle, according to police. A Cairns man now faces charges including rape, assault, strangulation, deprivation of liberty, and drug possession. The woman, who was never reported missing, has since made contact with family members and is receiving treatment for physical and psychological injuries. She is also awaiting a new passport; police say her captor damaged her original to the point that it was unusable. (This hostage sought help with a pizza app.)

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