Salt Creek kidnapper’s victims to outline their torment in sentencing submissions
ONE of the backpackers from the Salt Creek kidnapping has told her attacker that he could not break her “even when you tried so hard” — while the other has spoken of her remaining terror and loss of enjoyment in life.
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ONE of the backpackers from the Salt Creek kidnapping has told her attacker that he could not break her “even when you tried so hard”.
In an audio recording played to the Supreme Court on Thursday, the German woman told Roman Heinze that his evil actions would not destroy her love for Australia.
“I want you to know, Roman, that you couldn’t break me, even when you tried so hard,” she said.
“You couldn’t make me into a victim because I am a survivor ... this has only made me stronger than I have ever been, and shown me what I’m capable of.
“I’m very angry, but at the same time I feel pity for you ... how could you be so weak (as) to misuse vulnerable people like we were?”
Her statement, and those of Heinze’s two other victims, were delivered as multiple suppression orders were lifted allowing The Advertiser to reveal the kidnapper’s name for the first time.
Heinze has been convicted of a raft of offences including indecent assault, aggravated causing serious harm, and aggravated kidnapping.
The majority of those crimes were committed against backpackers from Brazil and Germany at Salt Creek in February 2016.
Heinze tied and sexually assaulted the Brazilian on the beach, and threatened her with a knife.
When the German tried to intervene, he struck her four times in the head with a hammer and then repeatedly rammed her with his vehicle.
It subsequently emerged the duo were the 14th and 15th backpackers, respectively, that Heinze had targeted via the Gumtree website’s ride-sharing section.
One woman, whose nationality is unknown, was sexually assaulted by Heinze prior to their departure in September 2014.
Heinze confessed to that offending on the day his trial was due to begin.
A second woman, from Japan, went with Heinze to Salt Creek but he ended their trip early when she revealed she had posted photographs of him online.
On Thursday, the court heard all three women had returned to their respective homes.
The German woman provided the court with an audio recording of her victim impact statement, in which she said she had come to Australia to have “unforgettable experiences”.
“I had them, but in a negative way ... I still remember the day very vividly, all the small details, and I will never forget about this,” she said.
“I experienced the most intense feelings I’ve ever had ... panic, fear for my life, fear that I had to die when I didn’t want to die yet.
“I feel so betrayed that you attacked us (but) you cannot take what Australia means to me ... I know this crime has nothing to do with the country, but only you as a person.”
She described her struggle with paranoia, anxiety and illness following her return to Germany, as well as the trauma experienced by her loving parents.
“I was reliving the events of that day again and again and again, I couldn’t stop doing this,” she said.
“I was going through the horror so many times, trying to understand anything of it.”
The German said she would continue to conquer those feelings and go on with her life.
The Brazilian’s victim impact statement was read to the court by a witness support officer.
She said she had once been an outgoing person who loved the outdoors, but was now crippled by fear of strangers and traumatic memories of the beach.
That trauma was exacerbated, she said, by spending “16 days in a hotel room” waiting to give evidence at the trial.
She said that, as a result of the offending against her, she had abandoned her dreams of running a business and buying a home in her native land.
“I still have the physical scars that Roman caused during the attack,” she said.
“Every day, I see where the rope that he used cut into my skin and wrists.”
Heinze’s earlier victim, who was sexually assaulted in 2014, said she had kept her suffering hidden from everyone except her close family.
“I didn’t want others to get worried about me, I didn’t want to relive the moment, I did not want to be seen as a victim,” she said.
“It’s hard to stand the expression in other’s eyes of ‘you poor thing’.
“If nobody else knows, you are the only manager of that period of memory and it’s easier to lock it away.
“But it doesn’t matter how you frame it, it’s strong and it will find a way to come back.”
She said, despite the trauma of 2 ½ years of investigations and court proceedings, she was glad she had spoken out “for justice”, and urged other survivors to do the same.