Name: Australian surfer abducted and raped in India at age 22
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Australian surfer abducted and raped in India at age 22

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The surfer has revealed how she escaped after being held captive and sexually abused for two months. / Updated 07.10.2020Former Australian surfer Carmen Greentree has opened up in gut-wrenching detail about being abducted, held captive and raped by a man at the start of a soul-searching trip to India.As detailed in her book A Dangerous Pursuit of Happiness, Greentree explains the events that led to a harrowing ordeal.Then 22, she put her surfing career on hold after battling anxiety and depression - but a planned trip to California was cancelled after a chance meeting with a woman who had recently returned from India.Surfs up on 7plus with every wave live from the WSL and insights into life on the beach. Stream for free on “There was this never-ending search that I was on for a long time to master myself, to not feel like that stuff controlled me that at the time was controlling me,” Greentree told ABC Illawarra this week.“I met a girl who had just come back from India and she was very, very lovely. She had a very light, sweet nature, just the way that she was as a being I felt really drawn to her.“I liked her a lot and she described how wonderful India had been and all the things she learned. It was more that I wanted to be like her, carefree and free-flowing and happy that I think maybe in my mind I tricked myself into assuming she’d got that from India so if I went to India I’d get that too.”But Greentree says Delhi was nothing like she expected, and after a sleepless night in a “disgusting” hotel she was tricked outside a tourist agency by a man whose name she still remembers to this day.“I got sold on the wrong track and that wrong track to Kashmir, where I was held captive for two months,” Greentree said.“The person that picked me up from the airport to take me to my so-called tourist destination where I would get to stay for a couple of nights before I caught the bus to the Dalai Lama, pretty much within a matter of half an hour he managed to manipulate me into giving away my passport and my tickets, put the heavy on me telling me I was a woman and it was unsafe to be alone.“When I look back at that I know there wasn’t any option. It was creeping in little bit by little bit as every little thing happened and it just got worse.“I’m pretty sure the credit card and my bank cards were the last things that I handed over with the PIN numbers and everything - that’s the moment when I was like ‘ok, this is it now, it’s bodybag time’. I’m at the pure mercy of the universe here.”Held in a houseboat next to where the man’s own family lived, Greentree believes they were all in on the abduction ring and even bribed police.Greentree - who lost track of how many times she was raped - escaped after the man attempted to extort her parents home in Australia.“If it wasn’t for that there was absolutely no way - maybe not no way, but I think it would be very, very difficult - (for me) to have been tracked down. I was so worried that he was going to be able to bribe the police,” she said.“Even if he hadn’t attempted to extort money through my parents and give that little chink of detail away they might’ve been able to trace the flight that I’d taken and maybe discover what area I was in. I don’t like thinking about that, I’m just so, so grateful that I’m here alive. The more I realise how dangerous this group of people are the more I know how lucky I am.”Now 37, Greentree said she is grateful to be alive.“I know that I’m helping people. Even just sharing my story I’ve had hundreds of people reach out to me in the last week to say ‘thank you, you’re giving me hope for healing and inspiration’,” she said.Latest in SportBy Murray WenzelBy Nick MarkhamBy Scott BaileyLatest in SportBy Murray WenzelBy Nick MarkhamBy Scott Bailey

The surfer has revealed how she escaped after being held captive and sexually abused for two months. / Updated 07.10.2020Former Australian surfer Carmen Greentree has opened up in gut-wrenching detail about being abducted, held captive and raped by a man at the start of a soul-searching trip to India.As detailed in her book A Dangerous Pursuit of Happiness, Greentree explains the events that led to a harrowing ordeal.Then 22, she put her surfing career on hold after battling anxiety and depression - but a planned trip to California was cancelled after a chance meeting with a woman who had...

Australian surfer abducted and raped in India at age 22

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