Few sexual offending cases are as grave as that of violent rapist Joel Russo, two judges have said as they threw out his sentence appeal.
The 30-year-old attempted to overturn his two-decade prison term for abducting a jogger on Merri Creek Trail, in Melbourne's inner-north, and raping her over two-and-a-half hours in December 2019.
Russo dragged the woman into the creek and pushed her head under its shallow waters as he subjected her to violent sexual offending, while she screamed and clawed at the ground.
He had been released from prison four months before the attack on the trail for similar offending against a 16-year-old girl in 2015.
Russo pleaded guilty to eight charges over the ordeal, including rape, sexual assault and conduct endangering a person.
County Court Judge Liz Gaynor labelled Russo's offending as "a chamber of horrors" before she jailed him for a maximum of 20 years and four months with a minimum term of 17 years in June 2023.
She found protecting women in the community to be paramount in deciding his prison sentence.
"However deplorable your upbringing, however pitiable the circumstances of your birth, the objective threat you present to women generally cannot be underestimated," Judge Gaynor said at the time.
Russo's barrister Paul Smallwood claimed the judge had placed too much weight on community protection as he launched Russo's appeal on Tuesday.
He claimed the sentence was manifestly excessive and Judge Gaynor erred as she had not taken Russo's deprived upbringing, psychological conditions and disabilities enough into account.
Court of Appeal Justices Phillip Priest and Terrence Forrest rejected these claims as they upheld Russo's sentence on Thursday.
"Few, if any, cases of violent sexual offending within the experience of the members of this court have been as grave as the applicant's," the judges said.
"Quite obviously, the applicant's vile conduct is apt to provoke a strong, visceral, emotional response."
The judges said the offending was extremely serious and had life-altering consequences for the victim.
Russo still presented a danger to women and "will continue to be dangerous long into the future", they said.
"Women in the community must be protected from him," the judges said.
"Any sentence imposed on the applicant had to be of such a nature as to deter the applicant - insofar as his deficits permit him to be deterred - from future violent sexual offending directed at females."
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