Lilly was groped by a stranger at a Sydney festival. When she complained, he hit her.

It’s been seven months since Lilly Perrott was “groped” and punched by a man during a festival in Sydney’s inner west.

The incident left the 24-year-old with a fractured nose and eye socket, and while her bruises have now faded, her anger has not.

Perrott was with her boyfriend at a festival in Newtown in December when she was “sexually harassed by a drunken bigot”.

“He stuck his hand up my dress and groped me on my ass whilst my boyfriend had his arm wrapped around me,” she wrote in an Instagram post on International Women’s Day in March.

At Newtown festival last year, I was sexually harassed by a drunken bigot. He stuck his hand up my dress and groped me on my ass whilst my boyfriend had his arm wrapped around me. That’s pretty gross and disappointing right? We spun around and called this man out on his disgustingly inappropriate behavior and told him to get the hell out of here as this is NOT what Newtown festival is for. He clearly didn’t like being scalded for his foul behaviour and by a woman who had rejected his sexual advances so he punched me right in the face. He fractured my nose and eye socket in two places and put me in the hospital for the remainder of the night. Despite getting arrested by the police this man still to this day is denying he did it forcing me and my 5 witnesses to face him in court. This probably wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t a girl, but I am, so I’m celebrating this international women’s day by planning a badass court case against my attacker to educate his ass on why it’s not alright to go around being a misogynistic piece of shit and for taking a beating to stand up for myself to losers like him???? #IWD

A post shared by Lilly Perrott (@lillymiranda10) on Mar 8, 2017 at 1:45am PST

“We spun around and called this man out on his disgustingly inappropriate behaviour… He clearly didn’t like being scalded for his foul behaviour and by a woman who had rejected his sexual advances so he punched me right in the face.”

Perrott has since taken the 27-year-old man to court where he was convicted of aggressive assault with malice intent, but a lack of witnesses meant an indecent assault charge was dropped.

Even so, it was a victory for the designer who last week posted a message of defiance for her social media followers.

It clearly struck a nerve because it was liked more than 62,500 times and attracted close to 2,000 comments.

7 months ago I was sexually assaulted and punched directly in the face by a 90kg man at newtown festival resulting in a fractured nose and eye socket. After 2 days of court with 5 witnesses on my side and being interrogated by 2 smug defence lawyers we successfully got the drunk asshole who assaulted me to take responsibility for his actions as the judge ruled him guilty to aggressive assault with malice intent. It was a bittersweet feeling walking up to him and demanding an apology afterwards and watching him sputter and blubber out that he was “very sorry for what he had done” (bullshit) and I will be compensated for everything. My point is: don’t ever try grabbing or assaulting a woman because we’ll grab you by your metaphorical balls and squeeze you right back twice as hard ????????✨

A post shared by Lilly Perrott (@lillymiranda10) on Jun 6, 2017 at 12:17am PDT

“After two days of court with five witnesses on my side and being interrogated by two smug defence lawyers we successfully got the drunk asshole who assaulted me to take responsibility for his actions as the judge ruled him guilty to aggressive assault with malice intent,” she captioned a photo in which her black eye was on full display.

Perrott described the win as “bittersweet” but said it was a lesson for men not to grab or assault women “because we’ll grab you by your metaphorical balls and squeeze you right back twice as hard.”

After the original post went viral, she thanked commenters for their support in a second post, saying she felt privileged and grateful for the medical, police and legal services which had aided her over the past few months.

Wow. I’m incredibly overwhelmed by all the support I’ve received over the past few days in response to by previous post. I’m so humbled by the kindness and efforts people have gone to and I can hardly comprehend how one picture can bring so much attention. But I need to make something super clear: I was assaulted once, but there are millions of women who deal with assault, harassment, domestic violence, rape and so many go unheard, unwitnessed and unresolved every day. I’m privileged and incredibly grateful to have received the medical, police and legal services from my state government which all helped me win against that asshole. I can only hope others can get their cases resolved or can muster up enough strength to challenge and stand up to their attacker. ???? I designed this pin just before my assault last year and now I wear it with pride and as a friendly reminder to strangers that you #canttouchthis ???? big love to all of you ????

A post shared by Lilly Perrott (@lillymiranda10) on Jun 9, 2017 at 10:44pm PDT

“I was assaulted once, but there are millions of women who deal with assault, harassment, domestic violence, rape and so many go unheard, unwitnessed and unresolved every day.

“I can only hope others can get their cases resolved or can muster up enough strength to challenge and stand up to their attacker.”

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.