A young doctor has broken down in tears upon recounting her terrifying encounter with a man who allegedly raped a jogger in a sadistic attack.
Josh Russo, 26, is accused of repeatedly raping his victim on December 3 last year as she ran along the Merri Creek in Melbourne‘s north.
Doctor Juen Mei Ding claimed a man fitting Russo’s description jumped into her car the same day as she was leaving a clinic on Bell Street – a short distance from where the eventual attack happened.
Russo (pictured) is accused of holding his alleged victim’s head under water and choking her
A Melbourne court refuses to allow the public know exactly what the allegations against Russo are
Russo does not have to sit in the prison dock inside a Melbourne court due to COVID-19
Police allege Russo raped the female jogger multiple times, held her head under water and strangled her off the popular walking trail.
The incident happened in parkland beside Merri Creek, just north of the footbridge near Harding Street.
It was a little past 6.30pm in a spot frequently traversed by inner-city dwellers exercising after a hard day’s work.
The details of the alleged attack are so horrific Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to publish them.
Earlier that day, Ms Ding said a man climbed into the passenger seat of her Honda Civic and engaged in a bizarre conversation.
‘He appeared a bit slow,’ Ms Ding later told police.
‘He would say a sentence and then stare at me.’
Ms Ding managed to talk the man out of her vehicle before going home.
At the time, she had written it off as simply an odd experience with a strange person.
The next day, while talking to a friend, she learnt of the horrific attack by the nearby creek.
Appearing at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday via video link, Ms Ding broke into tears as she recounted the moment.
‘It made me so worried that it may be related,’ she said.
Detectives had arrested Russo just hours after the alleged attack after he allegedly tried to rob a service station on Lygon Street in Carlton.
Russo is accused of holding his alleged victim’s head under water and choking her, court documents show
Russo was arrested by police hours after the alleged rape attack
Police at the alleged crime scene along Merri Creek in December last year
Russo now faces 20 charges, which on Monday went before the court in a preliminary hearing before going to trial at the County Court of Victoria.
Health worker Emma Baldacchino claimed she also had a close encounter with the alleged rapist less than an hour before the attack happened.
Ms Baldacchino told police she was also on Bell Street when a man attempted to open her car door.
When the man failed to get in, he asked Ms Baldacchino the time before moving on.
Ms Baldacchino told the court the man appeared to be unsteady on his feet.
She told the court she was in a ‘state of fear’ as the man repeatedly attempted to gain access to her car.
It was information Russo’s barrister, Tanya Skvortsova, had tried to have suppressed from the court in a failed attempt at a gag order.
Russo’s eventual alleged victim had convinced him to walk her more than two kilometres to a McDonald’s outlet in Brunswick East where she screamed and her alleged attacker bolted.
A number of customers inside the fast-food outlet came to her assistance before she was taken to hospital.
She had been recovering at the Royal Women’s Hospital when Detective Senior-Constable Jenna Sladek arrived to take down the initial details of her ordeal.
It was the first stage in what would be a process that will likely take years to end.
The ‘disclosure interview’ was just 12 minutes long
Senior-Constable Sladek took five pages of meticulous notes.
One read: ‘Took my pants down, started raping me.’
Russo did not even have to front the court to hear the evidence against him.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 concerns gripping Victoria, the alleged rapist can watch from the comfort of the Metropolitan Remand Centre, where he is being caged.
Joel Russo is an alleged rapist
Community members walk along the Merri Creek trail as part of the Reclaim Our Merri Creek walk on Sunday, December 8, 2019 – just days after the alleged attack
Community members walk along Normanby Avenue on the way to the Merri Creek trail in December last year
Dressed in a shirt and tie, Russo gives off the impression that he might be a presentable young man on his way to a high-paying job interview.
He showed little emotion as the court heard allegations he raped his victim in five different ways.
Nothing in Senior-Constable Sladek’s notes go into how many times or the shocking sequence of events.
It was not her job to collect such evidence, but simply give the leading detective an idea of where the case might head.
When the interview was completed, a doctor entered the room and proceeded to take forensic samples from within the woman’s battered body.
Senior-Constable Sladek left the hospital ward and never saw the woman again.
The alleged attack outraged Melburnians at the time, with hundreds taking to the streets to protest.
Up to 500 people gathered at Mayer park and listened to speeches from women before walking up along the trail to show their solidarity with all those who have survived assaults.
Despite the public interest, Magistrate Fiona Hayes could not be swayed to allow the prosecution summary of events to be released.
‘It’s not an agreed summary,’ she ruled.
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