British backpacker kidnapped and raped in outback wants to move to Australia

A British backpacker kidnapped and raped during an outback road trip in 2017 has detailed how the horror month-long attack still haunts her.

A British backpacker who was kidnapped and raped in the Australian outback has vowed to return to Australia to start a new life.

Elisha Greer, now 27, drove 1600km through the wilderness with a gun to her head after being kidnapped by Marcus Martin during a backpacking trip in 2017.

The pair hit it off at an Australia Day party in Cairns and decided to go on a road trip together.

But it turned into a holiday from hell after Martin, who was 23 at the time of the attack, after meeting, abducted Elisha and subjected her to a month of terrifying beatings and sex abuse.

Martin, 27, was jailed for 10 years in 2019 but Elisha has revealed she now wants to return Down Under – even though Martin will one day be freed.

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British backpacker, Elisha Greer, who was held captive and raped while backpacking through the outback in 2017 has revealed she wants to return to Australia. Picture: Supplied

“I’m not going to be broken and my life won’t be defined by what he’s done,” the hairdresser told The Mirror.

“I’ve always wanted to live in Australia and I’m going to do it. He’ll be free one day but I’m not afraid of him. I won’t let him rule my life.”

She added: “The worst has already happened. What else can he do?”

Elisha, from Liverpool in the UK, has previously opened up about meeting heavily tattooed Martin and thinking he was a “nice guy”.

“He didn’t seem like a psycho, to say the least. He just seemed like a normal guy at the time,” she told Sunday Night in 2019.

But the situation quickly changed, with Martin raping the backpacker and damaging her passport to try and stop her from leaving.

Martin then subjected her to weeks of physical abuse, and forced her to drive him down the Queensland coast and towards Charleville in outback Queensland.

“He was crazy,” Elisha said. “Completely and utterly crazy.”

The young woman described him as a “vile human being”.

Marcus Martin was jailed for 10 years in 2019 for the horror attack against the traveller. Picture: Supplied

She was only saved after an attendant at a Caltex servo spotted her black eyes when she stopped to buy fuel in a remote rural Queensland town.

When police finally pulled over their vehicle after they’d left the Caltex, they said Elisha appeared “terrified”. Police found Martin hiding in the back of the car.

She later explained she had sustained horrendous injuries during the time she was held captive.

“He shattered my nose so that it had to be rebuilt in hospital. The cartilage exploded out the side,” she told the Daily Mail in 2019.

“He tried to gouge out my eyes. He smashed my legs so I could hardly walk.”

Martin pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and one count of deprivation of liberty at the Cairns District Court in north Queensland in October 2018.

He also pleaded guilty to other charges, including assault occasioning bodily harm, wilful damage, and strangulation or choking.

Prosecutors dropped 10 other charges – eight of rape, one of serious cruelty to animals, and one of torture.

During the kidnapping ordeal, Martin was said to have choked his victim as he told her it was “time to go to sleep”.

Elisha has revealed she struggles to maintain relationships since her return to the UK. Picture: Supplied

Elisha told news.com.au at the time that said she doesn’t want to be known as a victim after what happened to her, but rather a survivor of abuse and an inspiration to others.

“I don’t won’t people thinking I am a victim when I’m not,” she said.

“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.”

Despite her strength, Elisha told The Mirror she has struggled since returning to the UK, revealing she has had two relationships since coming home to the UK but finds it hard to trust.

“Sometimes I get depressed for days and the time around the anniversary is hard – but mostly I just get on with it.”

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