Dog walker, 32, who was raped by a tradie, 23, in a Melbourne park reveals how she stabbed him in the bum with his own knife before fleeing
- Tyler Skerry admitted to digitally raping a woman, 32, in a Melbourne park
- She grabbed Skerry's knife and stabbed him when he pulled down his pants
- His victim said she felt 'guilty' for surviving her attack when many women didn't
A dog walker who stabbed her rapist with his own knife sometimes wonders why she survived when so many other women didn't.
She turned Tyler Skerry's weapon against him, stabbing him in the buttocks, during the night-time attack at a Melbourne park in October.
The woman, who cannot be identified, says society needs to change to ensure other women don't get hurt like she did.
Tyler Skerry admitted to digitally raping a dog walker, 32, while threatening her with a knife before she grabbed the weapon and stabbed him in the buttocks. Pictured: A court sketch of Skerry
'I don't know why he thought it was okay to rape a woman,' she told Victorian County Court Judge Rosemary Carlin on Wednesday.
'I feel guilty that I survived when other women in my situation didn't.'
She considers herself 'capable, independent and brave' but now has to live with the 'dark cloud' of the assault hanging over her head.
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Skerry, 23, pretended to have lost his phone and asked the then-32-year-old woman for help finding it.
Instead, he digitally raped her while armed with a four-inch paring knife at Thornbury's Mayer Park.
He told her to 'be quiet' and was in the process of pulling down his pants when the woman grabbed the knife, stabbed him, fled with her friend's dog and flagged down a passing car.
Tyler Skerry lured the 32-year-old woman near Mayer Park (pictured) in Thornbury in Melbourne before he attacked her
Skerry, who has an IQ of 74, was on a good behaviour bond and homeless at the time.
He spent his days doing ice, drinking and wandering aimlessly through the suburbs.
He had a hazy memory of the attack but didn't dispute it and pleaded guilty to rape and the theft of his victim's phone, which he sold the next day.
'If that's how the poor lady explains the whole story, I did it, yeah,' Skerry told police after his family helped to turn him into authorities.
'I know I did wrong.'
The rape was described as opportunistic.
Skerry had a borderline intellectual impairment and was incapable of high-level planning or sophisticated pre-meditation, his barrister Christopher Terry told the court.
Skerry raped the woman at knife point before she grabbed his weapon and stabbed him in the buttocks. Pictured: blood from Skerry's stab wounds
When asked by the court to name his previous occupation, Skerry replied 'male'.
He went on to clarify he'd worked odd jobs as a tradie.
His victim said she hoped 'he gets the help he needs to exist in the community without being a danger to anyone else'.
'I dwell on the prevalence of sexual assault and violence against women a lot,' she said.
'Even with systematic change, there will be outliers (who do this to women)'.
She called for cultural change, better education as well as support services to help keep other women safe.
Prosecutor Brett Sonnet described her actions in fighting her attacker off as heroic.
She was entitled to walk a dog at night and Skerry's behaviour was outrageous, Mr Sonnet said.
As Skerry's hearing ended, he told the court: 'Thank you guys. Have a lovely day.'
He has already spent 269 days behind bars and will be sentenced on August 5.
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