Nearly five decades after first seeing him in her Collingwood vintage store, Kate Buck says she instantly recognised Perry Kouroumblis when his face appeared on television as the alleged killer in the Easey Street murders.
Kouroumblis, now 66, has been committed to stand trial for the 1977 stabbing deaths of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett inside their Collingwood home. He has pleaded not guilty.
Buck recalls Kouroumblis visiting her Eccentric Clothing store in the late 1970s or early 1980s, dressed in distinctive “Sharpie” fashion – “connies”, platform shoes, tight jeans, a striped cardigan and T-shirt, and a mullet. Though his style stood out, she remembers him as reserved.
“He walked around like a little bit hunched or something, like he was hiding a little bit or a bit shy,” she said on the Hunting Justice podcast.
When she later saw his image in media coverage following his arrest, she said it was his eyes she recognised.
“I recognised that straight away… that face, the black eyes,” Buck said. “He’s got these hooded eyes and they’re quite black and sparkly.”
Buck said while Sharpie culture in 1970s Melbourne was associated with music, fashion and occasional street fights, it was not linked in her mind to extreme violence.
“They were probably into petty crime – nicking things, stealing cars, things like that … (not) particular murders or anything, it was just petty crime. It was a different world.”
Source: Herald Sun.
