A court has heard a chilling account of how a farmer raped a broke British backpacker after she came to work on his farm.
Wayne Robert Green, from South Burnett in Queensland, was found guilty of raping the woman and sentenced to more than three years in jail on Thursday.
The woman had come to work for the father of three after responding to an ad on Gumtree, Kingaroy District Court heard.
After arriving at the farm the woman was sexually assaulted and raped over a period of two weeks.
The court was told that Green, 53, was aware that the woman was desperate to stay in Australia and was broke.
Crown prosecutor Christa Nicola stated that the woman had travelled from the UK to Australia with dreams of experiencing the country on a working visa, the Courier Mail reported.
“This turned into something very different,” Ms Nicola said.
Ms Nicola described a particular night when the woman and Green returned from a local pub where he had allegedly assaulted her.
“She didn’t want to; he was bigger and dominating,” Nicola said.
Green allegedly offered her money for oral sex or a hand-job in exchange for “keeping her job”.
The court also heard that the woman had only $4 to her name, corroborated by bank records.
Ms Nicola said that the woman feared rape if she did not comply, and that she was intoxicated while Green was naked during the conversation.
Green then led her to another room, where she felt compelled to perform oral sex on him, where he used aggressive language and physical force.
“She felt as though she had no choice. He laid her on the sofa, she was naked, he was naked, he was touching himself … at some point she had his penis in his mouth,” Ms Nicola said.
“He said the words ‘suck my c**k you whore’ and he was aggressive and pushing her head down.”
In his closing argument, Green’s lawyer Scott Lynch argued that the alleged victim’s testimony was inconsistent, noting that her diary entries and comments to others did not indicate she was “scared” during her time on the farm.
He said that Mr Green had left for Longreach for four days shortly after the woman arrived on the farm, a fact corroborated by two witnesses.
Other witnesses testified via video link from New York, confirming that the woman confided in them about being sexually assaulted by Green.
One witness recounted that the woman described her time on the farm as the worst period of her life.
“She said that she was on the farm, she was sexually assaulted by Wayne and that it was oral sex and that was the worst time of her life,” the witness said.
Additional testimonies revealed Green had walked around naked and entered the bathroom while the woman was showering, which made her feel extremely uncomfortable.
Mr Lynch argued that the woman’s diary entries, which indicated she was relaxed, contradicted her claims. He also pointed out the absence of forensic evidence and highlighted inconsistencies in her accounts.
“I’m not sure if he likes me, I need to make a bit more of an effort,” Mr Lynch read from the diary.
He said there were no details about the alleged events recorded in the diary.
“That would be the very thing that would be kept in a diary.
“There is no forensic evidence … this is beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Despite these arguments, the jury found Green guilty of rape and procuring a sexual act by intimidation.
The jury found Green guilty of one charge of procuring a sexual act by intimidation and guilty of rape, while acquitting him of assault.
Green was sentenced to three years for procuring a sexual act by intimidation and three years and six months for rape, to be served concurrently.
He had entered a plea of not guilty to all charges.