Saliva from the alleged perpetrator of a brutal attack on a Brazilian and German backpacker in Salt Creek, South Australia has been matched to a sample found on the bikini of one of the backpackers, the SA Supreme Court has heard today.
The 60-year-old man is facing charges of aggravated kidnapping, indecent assault and attempted murder over an incident that took place in Coorong National Park in February last year.
The two backpackers were travelling with the man from Adelaide to Melbourne on a trip they had arranged through the ride-sharing section of Gumtree when he allegedly attacked them at a remote beach camping site.
The 24-year-old Brazilian backpacker told the court that the man lured her away from both the campsite and the other backpacker, where he proceeded to bind her hands and feet and sexually assault her.
After leading the man closer to the campsite by telling him it would be “more pleasurable” if they went back, she was able to yell for help from the German woman. The pair managed to escape the man after a struggle and ran in separate directions after he allegedly began chasing them in his four-wheel-drive. They were reunited after the Brazilian woman flagged down a passing car and came across a group of off-duty police officers. The man was arrested shortly after.
Dr Duncan Taylor from Forensic Science SA told the court that saliva found on the Brazilian backpacker’s breasts, neck, face and bikini bottoms matched with that of the man. Earlier in the trial, the court heard from prosecutor James Pearce that the man kissed and licked the body of the Brazilian backpacker when he sexually assaulted her.
Dr Taylor told the court that it was impossible to determine how the saliva came to be on the woman’s body and agreed with the defence that it was possible that the transfer could have happened in the confined space of the car.
The court also heard from Dr Taylor that blood from the German backpacker was matched to blood on the bonnet and roof of the alleged attacker’s car, as well as to blood found on his jeans and shirt and the handle of a shovel.
The court case is still ongoing.
Source: ABC.
Photo: ABC News.
