A brave beauty pageant contestant spoke up for sex assault victims when she wore the same outfit on the runway she had had on the day she fought off a terrifying attack.

Martina Evatore – a 20-year-old model and biochemistry student from Padua, Italy – had been dressed up as her idol for the pageant.

So she chose the same clothes she had been wearing three years earlier when she was groped on the way to a friend’s birthday party.

Martina told how she was assaulted around midnight on 29th June, 2019, and fought back furiously.

The attacker had tried to get his hands under her jacket as she kicked and punched him after he pushed her into a gate.

She told local media: “My father taught me to always defend myself.”

The next day, Martina went to the police with her mother and completed an identikit of the attacker, who she estimated was around 35 to 40 years old.

She later said: “A girlfriend told me that if you dress a certain way, you’re looking for it.

“But I was wearing a pair of pants and a zipped-up jacket.”

Martina’s runway look for Miss Venice Beach – a fashion contest designed by an ex-beauty queen – consisted of a camouflage jacket, a black T-shirt, a pair of trousers and white trainers.

She explained: “There are no encouraging gestures or clothes, there are only men who feel authorised to harass you.”

The model was sent to the finals of the competition, which will be judged in September.

The young woman said: “Participating in the competition gave me confidence. I was very anxious, and, instead, everything went well.”