SHE has kept quiet about it for eight years, but Tahlia Giumelli has been so shaken by recent attacks on Australian women that she has revealed her own chilling story of sexual assault.

The Miss Universe finalist and model partner of South Sydney Rabbitohs ace Tom Burgess took to Instagram to describe the horrifying moment a man tried to pull her pants down when she was just 17.

She fought back and managed to flee from her attacker who was captured shortly after.

In the Instagram post, alongside a cartoon with the caption “My body is my body, my life is my life”, the 25-year-old revisited that haunting night — which she says still affects her to this day.

“I’ve kept very quiet over the years about topics involving sexual or indecent assault, but the current cases in the media have both touched me and anger (sic) me,” she wrote.

“Not many people know but the day after my 17th birthday I was indecently assaulted by a man who had followed me home.

“He attacked me in my own street pulling my pants down and trying to get me to the floor. This was [in] broad daylight.

“I ended up trying to punch him in the face and screamed my lungs out (no one even heard me), he got scared and ran away … because he is a coward.

“I then spent a year in and out of police stations and court trying to get him locked away. “Four years in jail and two years after his release I found out he had reoffended and tried to harm another girl.

“How the hell can that happen? Isn’t once enough, is our system not helping these people?”

She then goes on to describe how the traumatic event has changed her behaviour.

“I don’t walk at night by myself, I don’t even walk in ‘unsafe areas’ in broad day light. What I need to see is the government and the police working together to end this growing problem. “A man punches someone, he’s a coward, a man rapes and murders someone and it’s us women who need to be vigilant, we need to look out for these kind of problems. NO. We need men to learn that women are not objects.”

She says the recent high profile cases of murder such as the sickening attack on Eurydice Dixon in Melbourne and the mysterious disappearance of Qi Yu in Sydney have prompted her to speak out.

“I don’t need to modify my behaviour, I need there to be change because no one should go through what countless women and I have gone through. Whilst this experience made me stronger it’s also made me hyper-vigilant and I still worry for my safety.

“I shouldn’t need to look behind me when I hear someone approach, my heart shouldn’t skip a beat when someone surprises me from behind. When will the government start investing money on DV (domestic violence) and such topics rather than pay increases?”

She added the hashtag #eurydicedixon

Her fans and friends supported Ms Giumelli in speaking and commended her for her bravery.

“Well done you for sharing. I recognise that I’m one of the ‘lucky ones’ never to have experienced anything like this, but I stand with my fellow #sisters in saying enough is enough,” wrote one of her fans in response to the post.

“I’m so sorry to hear what happened to you but you are incredibly brave for voicing this!” wrote another. “You should be very proud of yourself.”