A rape charge that was thrown out by a magistrate last year has been reinstated against alleged Easey St killer Perry Kouroumblis, 66, who faces trial over the 1977 murders of friends Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett.
Bartlett and Armstrong were found murdered in Easey Street, Collingwood in January 1977. Kouroumblis was arrested in Rome in September 2024 following an alleged DNA breakthrough in the case, and was extradited to Melbourne, nearly 48 years after the murders of the two women.
Kouroumblis appeared at a preliminary hearing in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, with the rape charge back on his indictment. He was represented by barristers Dermot Dann KC and Daniel Sala.
At a commital hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last October, the court considered whether the alleged rape occurred before or after Armstrong’s death. No alternate charge, such as interfering with a corpse, existed under the law in the 1970s.
The court noted that the charge of rape relating to Armstrong – referred to in the 1970s as ‘carnal knowledge without consent’ – was dismissed by Magistrate Brett Sonnet.
Despite this initial ruling, the rape charge was filed on indictment paperwork to the Supreme Court in recent weeks.
Further preliminary hearings are scheduled for July. These proceedings will not be reported on to protect any future jury. No date has been set for his murder trial.
Source: The Advertiser
