A judge has labelled the abduction and repeated rape of a female jogger whose head was held under creek water as "a chamber of horrors".
Joel Russo, 28, pleaded guilty in Victoria's County Court to rape, sexual assault and conduct endangering a person, more than three years after he attacked a woman in Melbourne's north.
He appeared in court via video link from prison for a pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday, where full details of the daylight assault were revealed.
Russo, who was previously jailed for another rape, came up behind the woman as she was walking along the Merri Creek Trail in Brunswick East about 7.30pm on December 3, 2019.
He grabbed her as she screamed and tried to kick him in the groin, before he dragged her down a steep embankment towards the creek, prosecutor Jane Warren told the court.
"She clawed the ground to try to stop Mr Russo dragging her into the water," Ms Warren said.
Russo pulled her into the creek's shallow waters, telling her: "Shut up. Stop screaming."
He laid on top of the woman, pushing her head under the surface.
When she tried to turn her head to the side to breathe, he put his hands around her neck and pushed her head under the water for 30 seconds, the prosecutor said.
The woman believed he was trying to kill her.
Russo said he would let her live if they had sex and repeatedly raped her while in the creek. After hearing people nearby, and as it was beginning to get dark, Russo pushed her into some bushes.
He told her to be quiet and raped her again. Russo told her to call her friends and tell them she was alright.
They walked to a nearby McDonald's and Russo insisted on holding her hand, asked her if she would tell police, whether she enjoyed it and if she would "visit him in jail".
He then told the woman: "Sorry for raping you. I've ruined your life, haven't I?"
The woman clutched a metal pole outside McDonald's, as Russo tried to pull her away from the restaurant. He loitered nearby and eventually left.
Her clothing wet and hair covered in twigs, she asked someone at the store to call police. Russo was later arrested after trying to steal money and cigarettes from a Coles Express.
The victim said she has avoided going to parklands or spending time in nature since the attack.
"There is no limit to the anger I feel knowing the most life-threatening risk I took was to go for a walk alone and to be a woman," she said in a statement read to court.
Judge Elizabeth Gaynor said the attack was "every woman's worst nightmare" describing the offending as "appalling, degrading and terrifying".
"To any woman this reads like a chamber of horrors," she said.
"Nothing exists in the community to take care of it other than jail."
She will sentence Russo at a later date.
