A Melbourne dad who helped foil the vicious attempted rape of a pregnant woman earlier this year said the sickening demise of Jill Meagher was at the forefront of his mind when he decided to act.
Andrew Pappas, 53, was one of four men who prevented the attack on a 31-year-old nurse only a few hundred metres from where Jill Meagher was raped and murdered in 2012.
Mr Pappas was riding home along a bike path through Brunswick on April 24 when he spotted Casey Tennent attempting to pull the victim's pants down in the alcove of a nearby apartment building.
"I yelled out 'hey! What are you doing?'" Mr Pappas told The Age. "And she said 'help, he is trying to rape me.'"
Mr Pappas then began to chase Tennent down the bike path, with three men from the apartment building who had heard the nurse's cries also by that time in pursuit.
Tennent punched Mr Pappas in the face before the four men overpowered Tennent in an alley off Tinning Street and pinned him until the police arrived.
"I wanted to at least try to apprehend him or follow him," Mr Pappas said, explaining that he just didn't have it in him not to go after Tennent.
"I thought instinctively, this is what I need to do…After what happened to Jill, as a community we all have a responsibility for everyone else in our community."
Tennent, who had been drinking at his cricket coach's house prior to the attack, has been sentenced to 23 months jail and a four year community corrections order after pleading guilty.
Last week it was revealed that the 21-year-old was a drug and porn addict who claimed he couldn't resist the urge to attack the victim, who has since given birth.
"(My) greatest hope is you never do this to anyone else, as recovery from the attack has been a terrible experience that I hope no one else has to go through," the victim said in court.