A South Australian man has been found guilty of kidnapping and raping a European backpacker in an old pig shed, after he answered her online advertisement in search of work.
A District Court jury returned the guilty verdicts against Gene Charles Bristow on Monday after deliberating for about three hours at the end of the month-long trial.
The 54-year-old was found guilty of one count of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of rape, two counts of indecent assault, and one count of attempted rape.
The charges stemmed from a Gumtree advertisement the 26-year-old woman posted in search for temporary farm work in February 2017.
It was also a Gumtree ad that brought Roman Heinze into contact with two backpackers he went on to violently attack at Salt Creek in SA in February 2016.
Heinze was jailed for 22 years on charges including aggravated kidnapping, indecent assault and endangering life.
In the Bristow case, the woman, who returned to Australia to give evidence, said he had offered her a job and picked her up from a bus stop at Murray Bridge, before driving her to his hobby farm at Meningie, 150km southeast of Adelaide.
She said he took her inside the disused shed and asked to check the soles of her feet for needle marks, then placed what turned out to be a fake gun to her back.
He bound her hands and feet and chained her to the ground before leaving her alone in the shed.
"I was feeling terrible and I would think about my family a lot," she told the court.
"I thought I wouldn't see them again and that I would die."
Bristow threatened to shoot the woman if she tried to escape, and told her he was working with others in a kidnapping ring.
The woman said she eventually managed to loosen the shackles and used her laptop to contact friends and family.
In his evidence last week, Bristow admitted using a different name in the pair's online interactions and giving her incorrect details about the farm's name, location and previous employees.
But he said the woman was never held against her will, insisting she was free to move about the farm and leave when she wanted.
"I said... 'feel free to go and do what you like when you like'," he said.
Bristow told jurors that after one day the woman said she couldn't handle working in the heat so he drove her back to Murray Bridge, helped her check in to a motel and left.
He showed no emotion when the unanimous verdicts were delivered and will return to court on Friday.
