CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses sexual assault.
Eliza Paschke, who you might recognise as one half of the popular sister duo from the 2023 season of The Block, has bravely spoken out about a harrowing sexual assault that took place six years ago.
Speaking on her Try Before You Die podcast on Wednesday — which she co-hosts with sister Liberty — the 37-year-old explained the decision stemmed from having the podcast as a platform, being in a good place with her mental health, as well as some “disappointing election promises around violence against women”.
“I knew this was perhaps my moment to speak up. Maybe I can be an advocate for change. I can potentially help victims feel supported and seen,” she said at the beginning of the episode.
Eliza recounted the terrifying incident took place on Australia Day, 2019 after spending the day with friends at a bar in St Kilda, Melbourne.
“I had a lot of life admin to get through the next day, so I decided to do something a bit unusual for me then, at the ripe age of 32, which was my party period, and that was to take it easy and be responsible,” she shared.
She had spaced out her five drinks across the day, with water after every drink and a pizza through the day to keep the stomach lined. But after saying goodbye to her friends and leaving the bar after midnight, where she waited in the pickup area for her Uber, “everything goes black from there”.
Eliza described being jolted awake “like someone has used a defibrillator on me”, waking up hours later in Hawthorn — some twenty minutes away from the bar — in the backseat of a stranger’s car. A man was laying down on top of her, her arms were pinned underneath him, and her off-shoulder maxi dress had been pulled down to her stomach.
“I start screaming. I summoned the power of a thousand men and threw my body from side-to-side aggressively until I managed to get my hands free,” she explained in the podcast, eventually fighting off the man and escaping to a Melbourne backstreet. She crouched between two cars, trying to stay hidden.
“I start just bawling my eyes out. I’m trying to pull my clothes up and catch my breath,” she explained. “I can’t process what’s just happened, and I’m petrified this man will find me and finish the job, essentially, because I’ve seen him.”
Though deeply shaken, Eliza managed to call a cab, which took her home, and she contacted her sister Liberty the next morning and went to the police.
Reflecting on the terrifying experience in the 52-minute podcast, the former Block contestant explained she soon learned a “lucky aspect” of the incident was her tight underwear that day.
“On the night of the assault, I was wearing the biggest, tightest granny undies. I could barely get them up and down myself when I was going to the toilet,” she explained. “When I came away from the assault, my undies were still up and in position. The doctor and the detective concluded that there’s no way the assailant could have removed my Spanx.”
Over the next six months, Eliza said authorities were able to piece together more of the night’s events, such as interviewing the Uber driver who initially picked her up outside the bar. This turned out to be a breakthrough moment, with the driver explaining she had seemed fine when she entered the cab, although her behaviour changed dramatically within a few minutes.
“I started convulsing, speaking in tongues, and my arms and legs started tightening and spasming,” Eliza recounted from the driver’s account. “Apparently, I became super paranoid, and I jumped out at the traffic lights of a main road in St Kilda and ran off.”
According to police, given these symptoms, it’s likely Eliza was spiked with the illegal date rape drug GHB at some point during the night.
They believe that after she fled the cab, she “came across the wrong people or person who put me in their car after finding me on a street somewhere, potentially unconscious”. It’s believed the person who spiked her drink and the person who later picked her up were likely “two unconnected parties”.
Police were also able to extract a male DNA profile from her strapless bra from the night, a key piece of evidence offering a glimmer of justice.
“Annoyingly, he didn’t come up in the national database. But if he ever does re-offend — we’ve got him,” she said.
Her case remains open and her attacker has never been identified, but Eliza said going public might hopefully prompt someone to come forward with any new information. She also hopes to encourage other women to feel supported to speak out about their own experiences and urge greater action to address this vital concern.
“Violence against women and children is an epidemic, there are just no ifs, buts, about it,” she said.
“As we head into the election, a lot of commentary I’ve read suggests the government is failing to match the scale of this national emergency, that significantly more funding is needed for frontline services and across response and recovery programs.
“All I can do personally is keep being vocal, as i’ve started to do today. Obviously I wish this hadn’t happened to me and that I didn’t have this experience to talk about, but I hope conversations like this are a catalyst for change, and I desperately urge people to report these crimes,” Eliza reflected.
Help is available.
If you’re in distress, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or chat online. If it’s an emergency, please call 000.
Under 25? You can reach the Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
The post The Block’s Eliza Paschke Opens Up About 2019 Sexual Assault: ‘My Moment To Speak Up’ appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
