Yarrun Morgan: Mildura rapist jailed over attack on stranger

A rapist who attacked a complete stranger in Mildura as she left the pub has been jailed.

A Mildura man who committed a “brutal, demeaning” rape and assault on a total stranger as she left the pub will spend at least five years in jail.

Yarrun Morgan, 24, faced the Mildura County Court on Thursday, where he had previously pleaded guilty to rape and recklessly causing serious injury.

Judge Michael Bourke said Morgan had been awake for days, bingeing on methamphetamine and alcohol, when he approached his victim in the early hours of the morning on a bridge over the Murray River.

Morgan grabbed the unsuspecting woman in a “bear hug” from behind and put his hand down her pants.

He then punched her in the face, breaking her eye socket and knocking her over a guard rail onto the river bank.

Yarrun Morgan, 24, had admitted to raping and assaulting a woman at Mildura in 2019. Picture: Supplied

The woman, who cannot be identified, came-to and lay in silence fearing Morgan might have been looking for her, before ringing her friends and police for help.

Her eye socket required a bone graft, and told the court earlier this year she still feels intense fear of being outside at night alone.

Judge Bourke said Morgan came from a deprived background, grew up around drug and alcohol abuse, and had an IQ of just 67.

He said a “stranger in the dead of night” attacking a woman walking alone would have been a frightening experience.

He said punching the woman to the face after raping her was a “brutal, demeaning” act of violence.

Morgan’s lawyers negotiated with prosecutors to downgrade the charge stemming from the punch to the woman’s face, because he was drunk, drugged and only hit her once.

A psychiatrist who assessed Morgan said he posed a high risk of reoffending once released.

Police tracked Morgan down swiftly, using security camera footage and clothes they found at his home to identify him as the woman’s attacker.

He has been behind bars on remand ever since.

After time served, Morgan will be eligible for parole in mid-2024.