Rabbitohs star Tom Burgess’ model wife reveals how brutal attack in broad daylight changed her life forever: ‘I live in fear’

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

“Will there ever come a time when we as women feel safe even 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 influences her to this day, looking back on the moment she was shot in broad daylight attacked.

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

“That one event would change my life forever.”

“Spending months in and out of police stations, interrogation rooms, working with the police to make a sketch and months later ultimately leading to a positive ID and arrest, which would then culminate in even more months of trials and waiting for a sentencing hearing and ultimately a prison sentence for several crimes against women.’

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

Ms Giumelli said the man who attacked would reoffend again after being released from prison.

‘Unfortunately, nothing has changed in the past fourteen years. Women still cannot go running or walking without being attacked or worse, as recently reported in the media.

Tahlia Giumelli has shared the moment she was attacked on her own street fourteen years ago. Image: Instagram

In 2018, she told the Daily Telegraph that her experiences as a teenager left her with post-traumatic stress disorder and nightmares.

‘I live in fear. I live in fear because it happened to me and it is still increasing,” Ms Giumelli said.

‘I have a boyfriend who is 6 feet tall, and I’m still scared.

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

Ms Giumelli has previously spoken about suffering from PTSD as a result of the attack. Source: Instagram

Police are still searching for the remains of Samantha Murphy, almost two months after her disappearance.

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 murder.

Ms. Murphy was reportedly killed while going jogging in the Canadian State Forest on February 4.

Ms Giumelli said that as a mother she is now forced to teach her daughters to remain aware of their surroundings at all times simply because she was born a woman.

“As a mother of two girls, it is now my duty to teach them to be constantly alert to the dangers around them and to teach them the confidence to defend themselves because they are women,” she said.

“If you think about it fourteen years later, 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.”