Kidnapped, raped & locked in a pig shed

WHEN 24-year-old backpacker Davine Arckens applied for a job on a farm so she could stay in Australia on a tourist visa for an extra year, she couldn’t wait to spend more time in the country she’d fallen in love with.

But never could she have imagined that her dream stay would end up in her being held against her will, shackled in chains and stripped naked in a pig shed on the outskirts of the town of Meningie, South Australia.

Over the next two days, Belgian student Davine was subjected to unimaginable physical and mental abuse at the hands of twisted hobby farmer Gene Charles Bristow, then 54, who was later convicted of her kidnap and rape.

And she only managed to escape after sending panicked Facebook messages to friends and family asking for help – after using metal hooks she’d found in a broken fridge to escape from her chains.

It was February 2017 and the backpacker had placed an advert on Gumtree in the hope of finding work so she could extend her stay in Australia.

But that very post attracted a monster…

Bristow responded offering her labour work on his farm, before luring her to his 40-hectare property in Meningie, southeast of Adelaide.

After picking her up from a bus stop, he drove her on a two-hour disorienting drive before stopping at an old pig shed near his home, where he lived with his innocent wife and son.

Once there, Bristow convinced Davine to lie down so he could check her body for needle marks, claiming he wanted to avoid employing another drug user.

He then pounced, threatening her with what appeared to be a replica firearm and warning that he’d shoot if she did not obey his orders.

“I was struggling and he put something against my back. He said it was a gun,” Davine explained, speaking on 60 Minutes Australia.

She recalled how Bristow used cable ties and chains to bind her wrists and shackle her legs, before stripping her naked and sexually abusing her.

“I was just stuck there and I thought it’d take a while for people to notice I was gone or even to find me,” she told 60 Minutes.

“I was like: ‘I’m not getting out of here. This is it. This is where I’m going to die.’”

Speaking on MamaMia’s True Crime Conversations podcast, journalist Richard Gilead, who worked on the case, described the facility Davine found herself in.

“Well, it was a pig shed, essentially an abandoned one, because Bristow was not really a farmer,” he said.

“He’d previously worked on dairy farms, but in reality he was a labourer who had been in and out of employment in Meningie and had a terrible reputation as an employee. He’d been sacked from a number of jobs.

“When I spoke to people in the town, they described him as an argumentative troublemaker.”

He went on to explain how it was a block building with a corrugated iron roof that was open to the elements.

“There was straw on the floor, stalls for animals, and a fridge that wasn’t plugged in, a huge hive of bees in one corner, and this filthy sofa, which was all cut up and clearly worse for wear and tear,” Richard continued.

“It was actually positioned over a grate where you were designed to sweep animal droppings into.”

But once alone in the pig shed, Davine spotted small metal hooks that were for binding wool bales – and she had an idea.

Using them to pick herself out of the shackles, she set herself free.

She then grabbed her laptop and WiFi stick that was in her bag that’d be left in the shed, logged onto Facebook and sent desperate messages pleading for help.

Davine wrote: “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 two ferries. Don’t know where I am. I got chains loose. Please call police.”

But devastatingly, Davine’s signal cut out.

Making the agonising decision to shackle herself again to avoid any suspicion on Bristow’s return, all she could do was sit and wait in the hope that police were on their way.

The first person to pick up the message was her friend and fellow backpacker Echo Wang, who immediately alerted Queensland Police.

Speaking of Echo Wang’s fast-thinking, Davine told 60 Minutes: “She’s like a hero for me. She helped me, she was there for me. She took action.”

Detectives responded quickly and used Davine’s phone signal to track down her location.

With concerns growing for her welfare, they held a press conference the next morning appealing to the public for help.

“Major crime police are leading the search for a Belgian tourist they fear has been abducted while on holiday in South Australia,” a newsreader read.

“There are tonight grave fears for her safety.

Addressing the public, a detective commented: “We believe she was potentially picked up by a person in a red pickup type vehicle.

“We have grave concerns that she’s being held against her will.”

Panicked that cops were edging ever closer to him, Bristow unshackled Davine, dropped her off at a nearby motel and left.

After being caught by cops, he was 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 sentenced to 18 years in jail – not eligible for parole until 2032.

His son David told 60 Minutes Australia that he was “disgusted” by his father’s actions.

“Rot in hell. You get what you deserve,” he added.