THE Swedish doctor accused of drugging a woman and taking her to an underground bunker is a “very intelligent but depressed” man who wanted to make someone fall in love with him, his lawyer claims.

Martin Trenneborg’s barrister Mari Schaub said her client has serious psychological issues that drove him to build a bunker at his home and drug a woman in order to drive her to the property.

“My client’s motivation is basically he thought that nobody would live with him if they didn’t get to know him thoroughly and he wanted to someone to share his life with,” she told news.com.au from Sweden where a trial will begin on Monday.

“He is a man with high intelligence but very low self-esteem and life has hurt him. He is not a psychopath, not a sexual deviant, he is a complex person that at the time of the crime thought that this was the way for him to get a partner.”

Details of the shocking case dubbed the “Swedish Fritzl” made headlines this week after it emerged the doctor who claimed to be a member of Mensa had constructed a soundproof bunker with double doors, a kitchen and bathroom, in what was meant to look like a machine shed next to his home in southern Sweden. A blog written by Mr Trenneborg said his favourite actors were Christopher Walken and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Prosecutor Peter Claeson said the man was suspected of planning the kidnapping for years and used strawberries dipped in date rape drug Rohypnol to knock the woman out. He then transported her in a wheelchair and drove her 500 kilometres while allegedly giving her intravenous drugs to keep her sedated.

“His intention has been to keep the woman locked up for several years,” he said. “We also suspect him of planning this for years. Among other things, he has built the bunker to bring one or more victims.”

However Ms Schaub, who has been working with the doctor since September, said her client regrets what he did in the “terrible” case and has co-operated fully with police.

“Yes, he did a lot of calculation but what he didn’t take into account that you need to be a psychopath to go ahead with these plans and he is not that kind of person. He has emotions and when he found out somebody was actually missing this woman he released her.”

“My client is a very intelligent person but also a very depressed person. Also he has other mental problems but not grave enough to say that he is not able to stand trial or receive a punishment. But he is not well and he has been very depressed.”

She wants the kidnapping charge reduced to a lower charge of deprivation of liberty and said her client had confessed to all of the allegations except rape, while slamming the prosecution for leaking details of the case and speculating on intent.

“What I think my client should stand trial for is what really happened. In short, the defence is in agreement my client got to know a woman in Stockholm, that he drugged her, that he took her to a special bunker on his estate … and kept her there for five days,” she said.

‘I CAN SEE THE POTENTIAL FOR THIS’

Chilling photographs of the property show the inside of the bunker along with lifelike masks the doctor allegedly used to disguise himself and his victim while travelling, according to the indictment. Condoms, syringes and a gun where also found inside.

Human rights lawyer Fiona McLeod, who represented the first woman in New South Wales to receive compensation after being kept as a sex slave in a brothel from the age of 13, said the “shocking case” is more extreme than any seen in Australia but there’s no reason to think it couldn’t happen here.

“We’re all stunned to read about things like that and to imagine that is happening without anyone knowing in the community behind closed doors,” said the woman who acted as a lawyer for Thai woman Jetsadophorn Chaladone, known as Ning, who passed away in 2014.

“There’s no reason [to think] our population is any more resilient to those sorts of offences than they are in Europe and the [United] States. So I think that they could happen here ... I can see that there’s a potential for this as with any other sort of crime in our community.”

She is now working with advocacy groups to lobby the government into providing a national compensation scheme for victims of sex-slavery and human trafficking in Australia and said many cases didn’t get to prosecution stage because people were unwilling to expose themselves to authorities or the rigours of a trial.

“This case seems to be about some sort of personal sadistic pleasure whereas trafficking is generally motivated by profit. I think it’s very similar because it’s abuse of another human being. An absolute stripping away of their dignity and humanity.”

‘ANOTHER LAYER OF TRAUMA’

The Swedish case is the latest in a number of high-profile suburban slavery cases that have made world headlines. In addition to the 2009 discovery of Austrian Josef Fritzl’s bunker where he kept his daughter locked for 24 years, three women were held by bus driver Ariel Castro in a “house of horrors” in Cleaveland, Ohio, that was only discovered in May 2013.

Josef Fritzl gets life sentence Josef Fritzl - the man who imprisoned and raped his daughter over a period of 24 years - was sentenced to life in a psychiatric prison after being found guilty of a litany of horrific crimes, including rape, incest, and imprisonment. Skys Greg Milam reports

University of Technology clinical psychologist, Dr Toby Newton-John, said the victims of such an ordeal were likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder which could have “devastating” impacts for the rest of their lives.

“It’s one thing for a random event,” he said, comparing it to a shark attack where staying away from the water means risks are “containable”.

“[Whereas] these kind of events where they’re totally unpredictable — the consequences in terms of lack of trust and feeling unsafe can potentially roll out to lots of life areas.”

Director of Australian College of Trauma Treatment Michael Burge said for survivors, returning to ordinary life could add “another layer of trauma”.

“They need time to gradually adjust to allow themselves, their body, their soul and their spirit to gradually acclimatise to the circumstances,” he said.

Victoria.Craw@news.com.au