An angry driver told a fellow Melbourne motorist "I'm not afraid to hit a girl" before delivering a violent bashing that left a student paramedic with a fractured eye socket.
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Joshua Burke, 21, could be jailed for up to five years after pleading guilty on Tuesday to a string of offences linked to the road rage incident.
The victim, Erin, who doesn't want her surname made public, was 23 at the time of the attack on November 1, 2018.
She told Melbourne Magistrates Court the terrifying ordeal left her physically and emotionally scarred, derailed her studies and affected her job prospects.
Burke yelled and intimidated Erin before punching her in the face and fracturing her eye socket in two places.
"I'm not afraid to hit a girl," he told the victim before the assault.
Erin was driving from work placement and wearing her paramedic uniform at the time.
The incident began when both parties were travelling south on the Western Port Highway about 7pm. Erin was alone and Burke had a female passenger.
Burke began repeatedly accelerating and braking, keeping the victim in a position where she could not get around him. At a bend in the road with a 100 km/h speed limit, he forced her to a complete stop.
She got around Burke by driving on the wrong side of the road - while another vehicle approached.
"I thought we were both going to die," she said.
Burke then tailgated Erin for about 10km, pursuing her as she drove as fast as she could to get away.
She stopped in Somerville when she saw a friend.
Burke tried to smash Erin's window with his hand before assaulting her.
When she told him to stop, Burke "'came at' the victim with a puffed up chest and his arms spread wide".
He punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground. Leaving her "bloody and extremely distressed".
She was taken to Frankston Hospital and treated overnight for head trauma. Burke reported the clash to police.
Officers searched his vehicle where they found four box cutters and three bags of cannabis weighing about five grams.
Erin wept as she told court how "everything had changed" since the attack.
At the time she was at a critical point in her full-time studies, working as a road traffic controller, enjoying her work placements as a paramedic, playing netball and horse riding.
Since the attack Erin said she had suffered a relationship breakdown, was suffering flashbacks and taking pills for depression, anxiety and to sleep.
The stress saw her fail a crucial exam, miss work placements and her netball grand final. She also took a financial hit for medical treatment and through loss of work.
Burke faced multiple charges including intentionally causing injury, damaging property and possession of cannabis.
He is on bail and will be sentenced on June 26.
Australian Associated Press
