Nearly five decades after two women were found stabbed to death in their Collingwood home, the man accused of their murders is now facing a committal hearing in Melbourne.
Perry Kouroumblis, 66, is appearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court today, charged over the 1977 deaths of Suzanne Armstrong, 28, and Susan Bartlett, 27.
The hearing marks the first step in determining whether the case will proceed to trial in a higher court.
Kouroumblis, a dual Greek Australian national, was arrested in Italy in September 2024 on an INTERPOL red notice and extradited to Australia in December.
He had been living in Greece since 2016, where authorities were unable to arrest him due to a 20-year statute of limitation on initiating murder charges.
Armstrong and Bartlett were found with more than two dozen stab wounds in their Easey Street home, while Armstrong’s 16-month-old son Gregory was discovered unharmed in his cot.
Kouroumblis has been charged with two counts of murder between January 10 and 13, 1977, and one count of having “carnal knowledge” of Armstrong without her consent. He has not yet entered pleas to the charges.
Represented by senior barrister Dermot Dann KC, Kouroumblis appeared via video link from prison earlier in the week, as his legal team sought disclosure of evidence from Victoria Police and the AFP, including material provided to INTERPOL and details of how a forensic sample was obtained.
