Perry Kouroumblis,65,faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday,charged with two counts of murder and one of rape over the 1977 killings of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett.
In a statement early on Wednesday morning,Victoria Police said Perry Kouroumblis would be charged with two counts of murder and one count of rape.
Dressed in a black jumper and sporting a beard,Kouroumblis sat quietly in economy class seat 35E without handcuffs,eating a meal and drinking water.
The extradition will still need the final approval from a Rome judge which is expected to be within days.
The justice system has been blinded by science before. In Victoria,suspects were previously wrongly convicted based on what appeared to be black-and-white results.
Perry Kouroumblis was lured to Rome from his home in Greece for a potential property deal before being arrested on his arrival,his family says.
Detectives work on facts but every now and again,you need a bit of luck to get the break.
One of Italy’s leading international lawyers says the accused double murderer’s consent to be extradited to Australia for a 47-year-old cold case is “absurd”.
A “distressed” Perry Kouroumblis has agreed to be extradited to Melbourne,telling an Italian court that he intends to fight to clear his name,his court-appointed lawyer said.
Perry Kouroumblis is in custody at Rome’s crammed Regina Coeli prison awaiting an extradition hearing,but it could be months before he faces court in Victoria.
The Age crime columnist unpacks the major breakthrough in the notorious Easey Street cold case – and takes us behind the scenes of the long police operation that led to it.