A committal hearing in Melbourne has heard dramatic evidence from former homicide detective Ron Iddles, who revealed he confiscated a knife from accused Easey Street double-murderer Perry Kouroumblis during a random traffic stop just days after the 1977 killings.
Mr Kouroumblis, now 66, has been charged with murdering Suzanne Armstrong, 27, and Susan Bartlett, 28, and with raping Ms Armstrong. He intends to plead not guilty to all charges.
Mr Iddles told the court he stopped the then-teenage Kouroumblis four to five days after the murders and found a knife in the boot of his 1968 Holden, which the accused claimed he had found on the railway tracks.
Under cross-examination, Mr Iddles said the murders were “fresh in his mind” at the time, though he could not recall precisely how the knife was transported to the police station.
The hearing also examined decades of evidence-handling, with defence barristers questioning potential contamination and gaps in forensic continuity. Former detectives Stuart Bateson and Peter Hiscock both gave evidence about earlier assessments of the knife and the DNA trail, while forensic pathologist David Ranson confirmed the weapon could neither be ruled in nor ruled out as the murder weapon.
Police maintain that seminal fluid recovered from Ms Armstrong’s body belongs to the killer, and that DNA did not match other past suspects. The court heard evidence has been moved between multiple storage facilities over the years, though officers insisted procedures sought to minimise contamination risks.
The prosecution’s case relies heavily on DNA evidence said to link Kouroumblis to the crime scene.
The hearing continues.
Source: The Advertiser
