Alleged house of horrors captive warned to ‘run away’, court hears

A court has heard how a woman allegedly held captive and sexually assaulted in a suburban Brisbane granny flat attempted to warn another alleged hostage about the “very dangerous” man accused of the crimes in a desperate phone call.

A WOMAN allegedly held captive and sexually assaulted in a suburban Brisbane ‘house of horrors’ tried to warn another alleged hostage to escape, a court has heard.

The 22-year-old told police she told a 35-year-old woman to “get away” from David Jae Hwa Lee, 30, a Volkswagen dealer from the leafy suburb of Fig Tree Pocket, “because he was very dangerous” in a phone call on New Year’s Eve in 2017.

The court heard the 35-year-old, who was staying at the Crown Casino’s Metropole hotel in Melbourne with Lee, fled the hotel immediately after the phone call in which she was told to “run away”.

She booked herself into a backpackers hostel on Franklin St in Melbourne’s CBD, the court heard.

Details of the phone call were contained in documents filed in the Supreme Court in Brisbane as part of the revocation of Lee’s bail on more than 50 charges after he allegedly drugged, raped and held captive three women in his suburban granny flat.

“She told me that David had been assaulting her and threatened to kill her. She also said that David was smoking drugs in Melbourne,” the woman told police in a statement filed in court.

Lee allegedly made multiple threats to kill two of the women, including to kill the 22 year old and 35 year old at Mount Coot-Tha on January 3, 2018.

“I’m going to take you to the forest and kill you,” Lee is alleged to have told the women, saying he had a knife in the car, according to a statement contained in court documents.

Court documents detailed that he also threatened he would kill the 22-year-old during a road trip along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.

“Let’s die together by crashing the car,” the woman told police Lee told her on December 8, 2017.

“David said he was so angry he might just drive into the (side) rail,” the woman told police in her statement, which was filed in court when Lee’s bail was revoked on May 23 after he was allegedly found in possession of the drug ice and allegedly failed to report to police on bail.

The former Kedron Volkswagen dealership employee is accused of drugging the women, aged 22, 25 and 35, over two months then raping them at the granny flat he lived in behind his mother’s home.

His lawyers argue all sexual encounters occurred with consent and the women were not held captive.

He is accused of keeping one woman captive as a sex slave for two weeks in January 2018 and one for seven days in December 2017, the third was allegedly threatened with a knife if she tried to run away.

He told them the sleeping pills he gave them were vitamins, and drugged them daily, locking them inside the unit, court documents allege.

One of the women weighed just 44kg, and met Lee on the day she arrived from Korea for a working holiday in Brisbane in January 2018.

The women allege they were repeatedly sexually assaulted or raped by Lee who is described by police in court documents as “fat obese” and standing 175cm tall.

“He punched me in the face … and dragged me onto the bed. He started ripping my clothes off. I couldn’t move while he was on top of me,” the 35 year old told police.

“He was naked, I was crying and wanted him to stop,” she said.

Details of the case can be ­revealed for the first time after he was committed to stand trial on 50 charges in the District Court.

The charges include six counts of rape, three counts of deprivation of liberty, two of extortion, one of choking, and making and distributing prohibited videos as well as supplying dangerous drugs to a person who does not know it is a dangerous drug.

A total of 26 charges relate to Lee’s alleged abuse of the 25 year-old alleged victim, 21 charges to the 35-year-old and two charges to the 22-year-old.

One woman alleges she woke up “in a pool of her urine” after Lee allegedly drugged her with sleeping pills.

According to documents filed in court, another took photographs of the pills she was given and the ‘vitamin’ bottle Lee allegedly used to store the pills, which prosecutors allege were sleeping pills.

She gave the photographs to police as well as pills she kept, court documents state.

Hair analysis tests show the women had consumed strong sedatives contained in prescription medications, court documents state.

The women allege that when they were not drugged and held captive at Lee’s home, he allowed them to travel with him on trips to Melbourne, he demanded they smile and look happy when he took them out to dinner at trendy restaurants.

Originally published as Alleged house of horrors captive warned to ‘run away’, court hears