The long-running Easey Street murder case returned to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday, where defence lawyers questioned whether evidence collected in 1977 may have been contaminated.
Perry Kouroumblis, 66, who has indicated he will plead not guilty, is accused of murdering Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett and raping Ms Armstrong.
Retired officers admitted they did not wear gloves at the scene, with one saying, “I didn’t touch anything at the scene… We did have them (gloves), they were in the kit,” while another recalled that “we didn’t have gloves in those days.”
Defence barrister Dermot Dann KC also pressed witnesses on claims an officer urinated in the backyard, which former detective Terry Purton denied: “(I) did not see that… I’d disagree with that.”
The court heard evidence was transported in the boot of a police car and later re-stored and tested decades on.
Prosecutors say their case relies heavily on DNA, with samples “100 billion times more likely to observe those results if the accused was a contributor.”
Magistrate Brett Sonnet will decide if the case proceeds to trial.
Source: The Herald Sun
