Lisa Jones sexually assaulted female stranger she followed in Melbourne

A woman has been thrown behind bars after sexually assaulting a stranger she followed down a Melbourne street before issuing a shocking demand.

A Melbourne woman was walking home when another woman grabbed her and told her to “lie down and have sex with me” in a shocking attack.

Lisa Jones pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit a sexual offence and sexual assault.

She was jailed for three years and three months in the County Court of Victoria on Tuesday.

Jones, a transgender woman, spotted her victim and followed the other female down Lennox Street in Richmond in February this year.

The 44-year-old grabbed her victim’s arm in a “strong grip”, forcing the woman to face her and then grabbed her jeans.

“Why won’t you lie down and have sex with me,” Jones told her victim.

The other woman, who was on a call to her mum, started screaming and yelled out her location before Jones grabbed the phone and the call was disconnected.

Jones put her hands down the woman’s pants and tried to pull down her victim’s jeans but the other woman was able to fight her off as bystanders came rushing to her aid.

A Good Samaritan chased down Jones and stopped her before police arrived at the scene.

“I didn’t do anything, it was her fault,” Jones said.

During a record of interview, she told police the woman started “freaking out” after they physically ran into each other and denied telling the woman to lie down for sex.

The victim described her attacker as someone who “appeared transgender”.

“Out of the blue she was confronted by you – a complete stranger,” Judge Pardeep Tiwana said.

“You physically restrained her despite her screams for help and telling you to stop, you persisted.”

It was a “brazen and opportunistic” attack against a complete stranger who was walking home, he said.

It was revealed in court Jones spent six years in a male prison in Germany for sexually abusing a six-year-old girl, before she transitioned.

Her time in the male prison was a “traumatic and harrowing” experience for Jones but did little to deter further sexual offending, Judge Tiwana said.

She was deported to Australia in 2018 and moved to the ACT, where she started hormone replacement therapy before returning to live in Melbourne.

The court heard Jones had suffered gender dysphoria and identified as female from a young age but after a breakdown at eight lived as a boy to survive family life.

During her time in custody there was a “sharp decline” in her mental health in June and is struggling with solitary confinement.

Jones must serve at least 22 months behind bars before being eligible for parole and will be a registered sex offender for life.