A man described as a "significant danger to women" after dragging a jogger into a creek and raping her for hours is asking to serve less time behind bars.
Joel Russo was jailed up to 20 years and four months in 2023 after he pleaded guilty to eight charges including rape and sexual assault.
He grabbed a 26-year-old woman from behind as she was jogging along the Merri Creek Trail, in Melbourne's inner north, in December 2019.
Russo dragged the woman into the creek and held her head under water, repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting her over two-and-a-half hours.
The woman eventually convinced Russo to take her somewhere as she was cold, and they walked to a McDonald's where she called for help.
In the days after the attack, hundreds of Melburnians took to the trail in a Reclaim Our Merri Creek protest walk.
Russo had only been free from prison for four months when he attacked the woman, after serving time for raping a 16-year-old girl near public toilets.
County Court Judge Liz Gaynor said he was an "extremely dangerous offender" and the threat he posed to women cannot be underestimated, as she handed him a minimum of 17 years in jail before he is eligible for parole.
The 30-year-old faced Victoria's Court of Appeal by video link from Barwon Prison's high security unit on Tuesday, where his barrister said Russo's sentence was "manifestly excessive".
Paul Smallwood claimed Judge Gaynor placed too much weight on community protection in deciding Russo's prison term and should have taken his personal circumstances more into account.
"We're here because of the outrageously shocking circumstances that have marked this applicant's life," he told the court.
He said Russo was exposed to heroin in utero, his father suffered from schizophrenia and he grew up in a "home of neglect".
Mr Smallwood claimed Russo's upbringing had a profound impact on his cognitive, emotional and psychological development.
But Justice Phillip Priest said Russo still presented a "very significant danger to women" and community protection remained important.
The judge said Russo's offending was "one of the worst that I personally have encountered" in nearly half a century.
Director of Public Prosecutions barrister Diana Piekusis KC said it was "hard to imagine much worse offending", and his rehabilitation and reform prospects were "bleak" given he reoffended so quickly.
"It was terrifying, it was humiliating, it was protracted and it was repeated in the face of distress, resistance and the victim fighting for her life," she said.
"This was a young woman in the prime of her life, studying, so much to look forward to, and there is not a single aspect of her life that has not been impacted by this."
Russo had participated in a sex offenders program during his previous prison term, but Justice Priest said it "didn't do much to curb his propensities" given he re-offended within months.
Mr Smallwood said his client's complex disability needs had been poorly understood during sex offender treatment.
The appeal judges reserved their decision until Thursday.
