Tahlia Giumelli has questioned the safety of women in 2024, more than a decade after she was attacked in broad daylight

More than a decade after she was attacked by a stranger in her own street, Tahlia Giumelli has asked the grim question on the minds of so many Australian women.

“Will there ever be a time where as women, we feel safe even when walking in broad daylight?”

The model, mother-of-two and wife of South Sydney Rabbitohs player, Tom Burgess, took to Instagram to share the experience that still impacts her to this day, revisiting the moment she was attacked in broad daylight.

“14 years ago today, the day after my 17th birthday, I was walking home after school and was followed and attacked in my street at random,” she said in a post to Instagram.

“That one event would forever change my life.”

“Spending months in and out of police stations, interview rooms, working with the police to draw up a sketch and months later eventually lead to a positive ID and arrest, which would then turn into more months of trials and waiting before a sentence hearing and ultimately a jail sentence for multiple offences against women.”

In an Instagram post in 2018, Ms Giumelli spoke out about the attack and shared her anger at Australia’s “growing problem” of violence against women. The post coincided with the murder of Melbourne women, Eurydice Dixon.

Ms Giumelli said the man who attacked would go on to reoffend after he was released from jail.

“Unfortunately in the last 14 years nothing has changed, women still can’t go for a run or walk without being attacked or worse as proven recently in the media.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph in 2018 she said her experiences as a teenager left her with post-traumatic stress disorder, and nightmares.

“I live in fear. I live in fear because it has happened to me and it is still on the rise,” ­Ms Giumelli said.

“I have a six-foot five (196cm), built boyfriend and I am still scared.

“I will always look behind me, I will never walk at night.”

Ms Giumelli’s comments come as Victorian police continue to search for the body of missing mother of three, Samantha Murphy, two weeks after Patrick Stephenson was charged with her murder.

Ms Murphy was allegedly killed when she went for a routine jog in the Canadian State Forest on February 4.

Ms Giumelli said as a mother, she is now forced to teach her daughters to remain aware of their surroundings at all times, simply by virtue of being born female.

“Now as a mum of two girls, it’s my duty to teach them to constantly be alert to the dangers around them and to teach them the confidence to defend themselves because they are female,” she said.

“To think 14 years on, women are still as vulnerable as ever.”

Ms Giumelli posed the question to her followers: “When (will) we stop feeling vulnerable because of our gender.”