Rapist Joel Russo to spend decades behind bars for ‘terrifying’ crimes

A vile sex offender recently out of jail after a serving a sentence for rape went on to commit a shocking and violent crime on a defenceless woman going for a walk.

A man who raped a young woman on the Merri Creek trail has been sentenced to 20 years in jail. Picture: Sarah Matray

A man who brutally raped a young woman walking along the Merri Creek in Coburg will spend decades behind bars for his horrific crimes.

Joel Russo, 28, was sentenced at the County Court on June 6 to 20 years and four months, after pleading guilty to multiple offences, including two charges of rape and three charges of sexual assault.

The court heard that Russo approached a 25-year-old woman along the Merri Creek walking trail in the early evening of December 3 in 2019, when he grabbed her from behind and told her to come with him.

When she tried to escape and fight back, he dragged her down the embankment of the creek while she screamed and tried to break free, before he threw her onto her stomach, pushed her head into the water and attempted to strangle her.

Russo told his victim: “I’ll let you live if you let me f--- you”.

The court heard Russo violently raped the woman for more than an hour in the river, telling the victim to say she “liked what he was doing”.

During the horrific assault, Russo used a muddy stick to touch the woman’s vagina.

The woman eventually managed to convince Russo they should go somewhere dry and he walked her back to the street, forcing her to hold his hand and said: “But you enjoyed it, didn’t you?”

Joel Russo has been sentenced to 20 years’ jail for the brutal rape of a woman in Coburg.

Joel Russo apologised to his victim after the horrific assault.

He also said to the victim: “Sorry for raping you, I’ve ruined your life, haven’t I?”

The victim escaped about 10pm when she ran into a McDonalds and sought help, with Russo fleeing.

According to witness accounts, she was extremely distressed, wet and dirty with twigs and leaves in her hair.

Russo was arrested hours later on December 4 for attempting to rob a Coles Express, before police realised he matched the description provided by the woman.

When questioned by police, he denied the rape or meeting the victim and initially entered a plea of not guilty.

The woman’s victim impact statement said she suffered significant anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and many other mental health issues as a result of the incident.

“There is no way I can accurately convey the weight of these burdens I carry with me every single day,” she said.

“There is no limit to the anger I feel knowing that the most life-threatening risk I took was to go for a walk alone and to be a woman.”

Judge Elizabeth Gaynor praised the victim for her “courage and strength”.

“Throughout it all (she) somehow managed to keep her wits about her and make decisions during the violent sexual onslaught,” she said.

“That she was able to maintain such presence of mind in this nightmarish scenario was remarkable … it is my view she deserves recognition and high praise for the intelligence and capacity she displayed in the terrible circumstances she found herself in.”

Russo pulled the woman into the water off the Merri Creek trail.

The court heard Russo had been diagnosed with a severe intellectual disability caused by in utero drug dependency, a major depressive disorder, PTSD and had been in and out of custody since he was a teenager.

He had previously been jailed for five years in 2015 for raping a teenage girl.

In sentencing Russo, Judge Gaynor called his childhood “of the utmost deprivation”, as his mother used drugs while pregnant, he was physically and sexually abused throughout his upbringing while he was in foster care and began using drugs as a teenager.

“It is clear in my view that you fell through gaping gaps in the corrections system,” she said.

Just days before the rape occurred, Russo was released from a psychiatric ward after making multiple suicide attempts in the preceding weeks.

Judge Gaynor said Russo’s crimes were “appalling offending”.

“This was an horrendous sexual attack, and a most serious example of the already serious charge of rape,” she said.

“It was predatory, persistent, highly violent, terrifying, and prolonged.

“It is clear you are a seriously dangerous offender.

“However deplorable your upbringing, however pitiable the circumstances of your birth, the objective threat you present to women generally cannot be underestimated.”

Russo will be a registered sex offender for life.

He’ll be eligible for parole in 2040.