A ROMANTIC picnic with a long-term boyfriend turned into a six-day, naked ordeal for a 17-year-old girl at the hands of a balaclava-clad "kidnapper", a court has heard.

Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court yesterday heard that the kidnapper was, in fact, the boyfriend, and that he had tried to convince the girl that he, too, had been abducted, as part of an elaborate ruse. Last Tuesday, the girl and Julian Buchwald, 22, of Budgeree, arrived at a property near Boolarra. Police allege Buchwald left the car and that the girl was bound and gagged shortly afterwards by a balaclava-clad man and taken to East Gippsland, five hours' drive away.

A note covered in satanic symbols was found at the girl's parents' house, informing them that their daughter had been kidnapped and that she would be "raped and burned alive" if they contacted police. Police allege Buchwald eventually removed his disguise, tied his hands and called to the girl for help before "escaping". He untied the girl and the pair spent six days fleeing naked in the bush.