Medical staffer’s powerful words as she confronts rapist Joshua Carlyon in courtroom

A Goulburn Valley Health anaesthetic registrar delivered an extraordinary, powerful speech as she came face-to-face with her rapist in court.

Joshua Carlyon raped a Goulburn Valley Health nurse in her own home. Picture: Istock

A junior Goulburn Valley Health medical staffer continues to relive the night she was raped by a vile grub — but she refuses to let the horror define her and is fighting to “get her life back”.

The victim faced Shepparton’s Joshua Carlyon, 29, in court on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and one of sexual assault in the County Court earlier this year.

Carlyon, who also pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, entered his victim’s Goulburn Valley Health boarding unit room in late-2020.

In the earlier plea hearing, he told the victim to “stop moving” and that he just wanted a cuddle, and hadn’t had sex in a while.

Speaking to her attacker in court, the victim said the night had changed her life “forever”.

“But my life is getting back on track and I’m doing so despite you Josh,” she said.

“I’m doing so because of the support of the people you see in this room. I am back at work and I will sit my exam this year.

“I’m building myself up and I’m looking forward to a positive future.”

The victim said the night had infiltrated her life in ways she could have never imagined.

“As a doctor we learn about the effects of PTSD and never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be me rolled up in a ball hyperventilating from the panic this event has caused me,” she said.

“Stale cigarette smoke, that night it was all I could smell and taste. Despite brushing my teeth a 1000 times the next day it stayed with me.
“Now the slightest smell takes me back there.

“I used to be a great sleeper, now I don’t sleep well at all. I can’t sleep in a dark room and I can’t sleep in a dark house by myself.

“Every time I look into a dark hallway my brain takes me right back there.”

The victim also said she was forced to take time off her hospital training, delaying “one of the most important exams” of her life.

In the earlier plea hearing, the court heard Carlyon told the woman, who had started working at Goulburn Valley Health just a week before the incident, his name was James.

The court heard Carlyon digitally assaulted the woman, before committing various vile sexual offences.

Carlyon then told the woman to shower and said he wanted to watch her.

He told his victim to turn off the light, using the torch on her phone to watch her.

As he dressed himself, Carlyon told the woman “don’t do anything stupid, I know where you live”.

Carlyon admitted smoking meth during the day of the incident and said the drug made him “feel in a sexual way”.

Carlyon told police he would usually go to prostitutes for sex when high on meth but didn’t have the money to afford it on the day.

The grub also told police he burned his clothes after the attack.

Carlyon, of no fixed address, accessed the property just several days before his horrific act when the woman was not home.

He said he had gone there looking for somewhere to sleep and looking for food.

The matter will return to court later this year.

Carlyon was remanded in custody until that date.