Monster of Meningie Gene Bristow jailed for 18 years for raping and imprisoning European backpacker

The sadistic farmer who lured a European backpacker to his remote property and shackled her in a pig shed to be his sex slave has been jailed for 18 years.

• Guilty: Jury convicts Bristow over backpacker kidnapping
• ‘I thought he would shoot me’: Backpacker tells of her terror
• Bristow’s bizarre explanation for hiding victim from his family

A sadistic hobby farmer who lied on Gumtree to lure a European backpacker to his Meningie property where she was repeatedly raped has been jailed for 18 years.

Gene Charles Bristow, 54, was sentenced in the District Court on Tuesday morning for his horrific crimes against the woman, now aged 26, in February 2017.

Judge Geraldine Davison ordered Bristow, who she said “remains a significant danger to society” spend at least 12 ½ years behind bars.

“I regard you as a dangerous individual from whom the public should be protected,” she said.

In March, a jury unanimously convicted Bristow of six charges including aggravated kidnapping, rape and indecent assault, meaning he faced a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

In sentencing on Tuesday, Judge Davison said Bristow began his internet searches for a female farmhand weeks earlier in December 2016, where he gave little information about the farm’s location or work required.

Bristow chained his victim to this filthy couch in an old pig shed before raping her at gunpoint.

“In the course of these searches, you told a number of lies,” she said.

“These lies were designed to attract the sort of person you wanted to work on your farm, in particular a female without transport.

“You had no need for a farmhand at that time, you were unemployed and there was insufficient work on the farm for anyone other than yourself.”

On February 9, 2017, Bristow picked up a backpacker in Murray Bridge and drove her in his red ute to his property, 149km southeast of Adelaide.

He had taken a longer route to his property, where they entered via a back entrance so they could avoid locals and Bristow’s home so the backpacker believed the property was more remote.

Gene Bristow after his arrest.

On arrival Bristow took the woman to a former pig shed where she was shackled to a couch at gunpoint and sexually abused over two days.

At trial, the court heard Bristow told her he was an employee of the farm and “the nice one” who worked for more violent men as part of a sex slave ring “to keep her in fear” and “compliant”.

“You expected her to use an animal grate as a toilet,” Judge Davison said in sentencing.

“You offered her a filthy bed with old smelly wool on which to sleep and bound her. You chained her hands, and chained her legs in what must have been a terrifying experience for her.”

Gene Bristow (in the blue short-sleeved shirt) with sheriff’s officers when the jury and court staff toured his property in Meningie. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Judge Davison described the victim as “a person of much courage” who was also resourceful and practical.

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. Police began searching for her the following morning.

She said the backpacker’s “submissive” behaviour contributed to Bristow’s decision to drive her back to Murray Bridge where she was found by police.

“It’s impossible to understand how alone and devastated she must have felt as you humiliated and degraded her in a foreign country when she was isolated from others.”

After releasing the woman Bristow disposed of evidence, changed his appearance and wrote letters denying responsibility and blaming others for his offences.

She said Bristow knew police were “closing in” and had hoped the backpacker would “get on a plane, leave the country and that your crimes would go undetected”.

Judge Davison said Bristow, who does not accept the verdict of the jury, could not be rehabilitated until he took responsibility for his “pre-planned and premeditated” offending.

“You were prepared to plan and execute your offending and then try to cover up your offending in the hope that authorities would not catch up with you.

“It is clear from the evidence that you gave in court that you are a very particular person who ruminates on certain details,” she said.

The chains and shackle Gene Bristow dumped down a well on his property.

“You have, in an attempt to justify your own actions, created an entirely false version of events in relation to the time (the backpacker) spent on your property.

“You have … sought to blame others for your behaviour in an attempt to justify your actions.”

Judge Davison declined to declare Bristow a serious repeat offender, but said she must impost a “severe penalty” as punishment, deterrence and to protect the community.

“The circumstances of your offending including the premeditation and disposal of items post your offending leave me with significant concern about the safety of the community upon your release,” she said.

In her evidence at trial, the victim told the jury Bristow had lured her to his property under the guise of living and working on the farm to help raise calves

“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.

The toy gun found on Gene Bristow’s property, believed to have been used in his offending.

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

Later, in her victim impact statement the woman said she had felt “like an animal or a slave, powerless and feared she would never see her family again.

On Tuesday, Judge Davison said that Bristow had “changed the course of this young woman’s life”.

“She had, prior to your offending, been an adventurous woman who had travelled the world and experienced life.”

Now, she said the woman had trouble trusting others and was uncomfortable and cautious around men.

“No-one has a right to make another feel like this,” Judge Davison said.

“The road to recovery for (the victim) will be a long and painful one but one that she will take because she is a courageous and resourceful person who bears no responsibility for what you did to her.”

Originally published as Monster of Meningie Gene Bristow jailed for 18 years for raping and imprisoning European backpacker