Backpacker tells jury she feared alleged rapist Gene Charles Bristow would shoot her in his Meningie pig shed

A backpacker has wiped away tears as she described the frightening moments her alleged captor thrust a gun into her back and shackled her to a couch in an old, dirty pig shed on a remote property.

Accused Gene Bristow, centre, with sheriffs officers on his property in Meningie during a jury visit. Picture: AAP / Brenton Edwards

• Day 1: Court hears woman was shackled in pig shed, abused

A backpacker has wiped away tears as she described the frightening moments her alleged captor thrust a gun into her back and shackled her to a couch on a remote property.

The European woman on Thursday began giving evidence in the District Court trial of Meningie hobby farmer Gene Charles Bristow, 54.

She told the court Bristow lured her to his property under the guise of living and working on the farm to help raise calves — and had first asked to check her feet for any signs of drug use.

“He checked the feet and then he sat on my back and grabbed my arms,” she said.

“Then I was struggling, I didn’t know what happened.”

Gene Bristow outside Adelaide Magistrates Court after an earlier appearance. Picture: Nine News

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told the jury she only struggled for a few minutes.

“Then he placed something on my back and said it was a gun, so then I didn’t struggle anymore because I was afraid that he will shoot me,” she said.

“I stopped struggling and he tied my hands on my back with plastic straps.”

The backpacker, who was flanked by a court companion and interpreter as she gave her harrowing evidence, described feeling “very frightened and confused” about what was happening.

“I was feeling like it wasn’t real, you know, you wouldn’t believe that something was happening like that.”

The 26-year-old told the court she “tried to curl up into a ball” to feel safer after he removed her clothing.

The woman’s evidence came a day after Bristow, along with court staff and the jury, travelled to the 40ha Meningie property, about 150km south of Adelaide, where the crimes allegedly happened over two days in February 2017.

The property of accused rapist Gene Bristow in Meningie. Picture: AAP / Brenton Edwards

Bristow denies charges including aggravated kidnapping, rape and indecent assault.

The court previously heard Bristow picked up the woman from outside the Murray Bridge Visitor Information Centre after answering her Gumtree ad searching for farm work near Adelaide.

Prosecutor Michael Foundas said Bristow brought her to his property and tied the woman to a couch in the former pig shed using cable ties on her hands and chains on her feet.

The court heard the shed was not visible from the family home on the property and the woman had been brought in via a back entrance to the farm to avoid being seen in Bristow’s red ute by either locals or his family.

Mr Foundas said Bristow then held what had since been found to be a fake gun to the woman’s back, undressed her and repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

He said Bristow told her he was an employee of the farm and “the nice one” who worked for more violent men “to keep her in fear” and “compliant”.

The jury was told the woman was able to untie her chains and access her laptop to send messages of distress to friends and family, but not knowing where she was, tied herself back up.

The court heard a police presence descended on the town in search of the woman the following day, and Bristow returned her to Murray Bridge where she was found by police.

Nicholas Healy, for Bristow, said there was no dispute the woman had stayed overnight in his client’s old pig shed, but the allegations against him were “an invention” which “simply did not take place”.

The trial, before Judge Geraldine Davison and a jury, continues.