Backpacker got help over Facebook after she was kidnapped and raped in pig shed

A backpacker has told how she got help over Facebook after a hobby farmer kidnapped and raped her in an old pig shed.

Davine Arckens, 24, was abducted after posting an ad to Gumtree in search for temporary farm work in February 2017.

Gene Charles Bristow, 54, originally from the UK, responded and took her to his hobby farm at Meningie, in South Australia, where she was chained and assaulted over two days.

Davine told Channel 9’s 60 Minutes she finally escaped after managing to unchain herself and send a panicked Facebook message to a friend.

Bristow picked her up from a bus stop and took her on a disorientating road trip before pulling into the derelict pig shed near his home.

He pulled out a replica gun and threatened to shoot her before chaining her up and returning to his family.

However, Bristow had left Davine’s laptop and WiFi stick in the shed.

Davine used metal hooks she found in a broken down fridge to unhook her chains before trying to contact friends.

She wrote to a friend: ‘I have been kidnapped in South Australia. Please, I’m on a farm somewhere.

‘He drives a red pick-up. Please help look for me. Please, please, I’m so afraid.

‘I crossed with 2 ferries. Don’t know where I am. I got chains loose. Please call police.’

Fellow backpacker Echo Wang immediately alerted Queensland Police.

But Davine’s signal died and she had no idea if help was coming.

She told the Australian current affairs programme she was so afraid she chained herself back up.

Cops launched a search and Bristow drove Davine back to Murray Bridge and checked her into a motel when he realised what was going on.

He was ultimately caught and found guilty of one count of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of rape, two counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape.

Bristow was jailed for 18 years.

Davine told a court she felt like an animal or slave throughout the ordeal.

She told the court in a powerful statement: ‘I was locked in chains, held against my will and had to endure things that nobody should have to endure.

‘He took everything from me. Not only did he take my clothes and belongings, but also my freedom, my mind and my family.’

The court heard that Bristow, a father of four, was born and raised in the UK and moved to Australia in the 2000s.