1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: Some people were just born wired wrongly, and I'd suggest 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:11,080 Speaker 1: that Peter Tupaz is probably one of those. He wasn't 3 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: a hit man, he wasn't a carth He was just 4 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: the very strange man who did very strange, terrible things 5 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: at a fundamental level. As human beings, you present for 6 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: us the awful, threatening and unanswerable question, how did you 7 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:32,239 Speaker 1: come to be as you? I'm Andrew Ruhle. This is 8 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:36,160 Speaker 1: Life and Crime. Today We're going to look back at 9 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: a very sinister figure called Peter du Pass. Peter Tupas 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: is known to most of us as the creepy man 11 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:49,320 Speaker 1: who killed a series of women over many years and 12 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 1: was ultimately sentenced to I think three life sentences. But 13 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 1: the existence of people like you pass raisues that thorny 14 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: question is it nature or nurture? Is someone like Peter 15 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: Gupas born bad? Or was he made that way? It 16 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: seems to me that many of the people that we 17 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: deal with in life and Crimes, probably most of them, 18 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:19,959 Speaker 1: many of the worst killers and violent crooks, were actually 19 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: the products of abusive childhoods. And I know that sounds 20 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:29,559 Speaker 1: like a a trendy psychological angle, but it's become increasingly 21 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: clear to me after looking into people's early lives that 22 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: what happened to them as children did have a huge 23 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: effect on the way they behaved later. But sprinkled through 24 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: those are some of these absolutely terrible people for whom 25 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: there doesn't seem to be a logical reason for their behavior. 26 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: And it would appear that some people were just born 27 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: wired wrongly. They're just bent units. And I'd suggest that 28 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: Peter Dupass is probably one of those. You know, we 29 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: so often read the signs with these guys. They were 30 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: sent to boys homes very young, some of them, and 31 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: so the happy little kid who was happy at seven 32 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: or eight or nine years old becomes a sullen, violent 33 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: teenager after incarceration in a boy's home, where they would 34 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: be beaten and often very seriously abused, often sexually abused, 35 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: which would create deep seated anger that played itself out 36 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,799 Speaker 1: in criminal acts throughout their lives. And some of the 37 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: biggest names in crime and the most notorious figures in 38 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,799 Speaker 1: crime have had that sort of background. Russell Cox, known 39 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: as Mad Dog Cox, real name I think Melville Schnitzeling. 40 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:00,040 Speaker 1: He was sent to a boy's home, I understand, and 41 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 1: for stealing a bike when he was a little boy, 42 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: and the story he told to other crooks was that 43 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: he'd won a bike in a raffle or something like 44 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: a competition of some sort, but it hadn't been given 45 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 1: to him. Somebody else took the bike and he didn't 46 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: get it, and in a fit of rage or petulance 47 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,799 Speaker 1: or whatever, at the age of ten, he went and 48 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: stole the bike, and that put him on the path 49 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: to criminality because he was put in the boy's home 50 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:31,360 Speaker 1: and what happened to him in the boy's home turned 51 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: him into a young criminal who became one of the 52 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 1: most notorious arm robbers and probably killers, and certainly one 53 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: of the most famous escape artists in Australian criminal history. 54 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: And that pattern has happened over and over again. Du Pass, 55 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: on the other hand, came from what has been described 56 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 1: as a fairly normal family. Now fairly normal covers a 57 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: lot of ground. What is a fairly normal family will 58 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: In this case, it wasn't absolutely normal because Dupass, although 59 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 1: he had two siblings, they were much older than he was. 60 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: He was a child born a long time after his 61 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: brothers or sisters, and his parents were quite old when 62 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: he was being brought up and effectively he was the 63 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: only child of aging parents rather than a happy little 64 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:31,839 Speaker 1: kid who was one of three or four or five 65 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: running around together, so he was a bit unusual from 66 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: an early age. Dupas was born in Sydney in nineteen 67 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,160 Speaker 1: fifty three, but when he was a little boy a toddler, 68 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: he moved with his parents to Melbourne and he grew 69 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: up in the Southeastern suburbs of Melbourne. Nothing really is 70 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:56,039 Speaker 1: known about his early childhood, but in October nineteen sixty eight, 71 00:04:56,080 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 1: when he was fifteen, he was visiting the next door. 72 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:04,159 Speaker 1: Now this woman was a married woman with some age 73 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: on it. It wasn't a teenager. It was the married 74 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:11,720 Speaker 1: lady next door who was probably the age of Dupas's mother, 75 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: and he requested to borrow a knife for peeling vegetables. 76 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: Back in those days, people peeled their potatoes and things 77 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 1: with small vegetable knives. He asked to borrow a knife. 78 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,799 Speaker 1: The lady handed him a knife and he just turned 79 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 1: around and stabbed her with it repeatedly in the faith, 80 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: the neck, and the hand. He later told police that 81 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,120 Speaker 1: he could not help himself and he didn't know why 82 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: he had attacked her. Interestingly, given that we often think that, 83 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: you know, the courts are softer now than they used 84 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:47,479 Speaker 1: to be in the good old, bad old days. Back 85 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty eight, he was placed on eighteen months probation, 86 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: though not locked up at all, and admitted to the 87 00:05:55,320 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: l Arundel Psychiatric Hospital for evaluation. He was released after 88 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: two weeks there and treated as an outpatient. So here's 89 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: this fifteen year old teenage boy big enough to kill 90 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: somebody who stabbed a woman who lived next door for 91 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: no reason. He's back on the streets in a fortnight, 92 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 1: and he's clearly got psychiatric problems. We don't know what 93 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:22,800 Speaker 1: happened over the next twelve months, but what we do 94 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:26,040 Speaker 1: know is that in October nineteen sixty nine, one year later, 95 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: October was a bad month for the young petitive Pass. 96 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:34,479 Speaker 1: There was a break in at the Austin Hospital mortuary 97 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: and apparently the bodies of two elderly women were mutilated. 98 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 1: One body had a particularly strange thigh wound. Later on, 99 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:53,159 Speaker 1: when the adult du Pass offended repeatedly, police looked back 100 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:57,719 Speaker 1: at that unsolved case of who broke into the mortuary 101 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty nine and said, we think it was 102 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:05,039 Speaker 1: Dupass When he was a teenager, because that is such 103 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: a weird thing that he would take a knife to 104 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: the bodies of elderly women and mutilate them. A very 105 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: rare psychological case, and it would seem clear that it 106 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,239 Speaker 1: was probably him. Nineteen seventy three, So now we're jumping 107 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 1: forward another four years and that makes him twenty odd, 108 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: roughly twenty. A senior detective called Ian Armstrong, who interviewed 109 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 1: dupass at Nanea Wadding after he must have come to 110 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 1: police attention. Obviously, He said that the young Peter Gupaz 111 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: was weak and compliant when confronted by authority, but there 112 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:47,200 Speaker 1: was something unsettling about his personality. He was a spooky, 113 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: strange boy. And Armstrong said, and I quote to me, 114 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 1: the guy was just pure evil. His attacks were all 115 00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: carefully planned and he showed no remorse. We could see 116 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: where he was going. I remember thinking, this guy could 117 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: go all the way. He's an unmitigated liar, a very 118 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: dangerous person who will continue to offend where females are concerned, 119 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: and will possibly cause the death of one of his 120 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: victims if he is not straightened out. Well, nostrodamus, he 121 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: got that one right, because the twenty year old pet 122 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: dupas As He was then went on to become one 123 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: of the worst offenders in Australian weirdo killings history. He 124 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: wasn't a bank rubber, he wasn't a hit man, he 125 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: wasn't a car He was just the very strange man 126 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,680 Speaker 1: who did very strange, terrible things. There was a screw 127 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:54,080 Speaker 1: loose in his brain, string of sex offenses. His offenses 128 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:59,079 Speaker 1: were sexually related. July nineteen seventy four Jupas, who at 129 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: this stage is twenty one, He was sentenced to nine 130 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 1: years with a minimum of five for an attack on 131 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:08,080 Speaker 1: a woman in her home. Yet again woman at home. 132 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 1: He broke into the victim's house and threatened her with 133 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: a knife before tying her up with cord and raping her. 134 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: He threatened to harm her baby when she resisted. The 135 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: sentencing judge said it was quote one of the worst 136 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:25,280 Speaker 1: rapes that could be imagined. Back in those days, there 137 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: was a prison psychiatrist called doctor Alan Bartholomew, known when 138 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: I was a young reporteriss Dr Bart. He was the 139 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: Pentridge prison shrink and was always a colorful character to 140 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: talk about crooks and Doctor Alan Bartholomew noted that Dupas 141 00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:48,640 Speaker 1: was in constant denial and I quote, this youth has 142 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:52,720 Speaker 1: a serious psychosexual problem using denial as a coping device, 143 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:57,959 Speaker 1: and he has to be seen as potentially dangerous. The 144 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:03,120 Speaker 1: denial technique makes for you huge difficulty in treatment, meaning 145 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,480 Speaker 1: Gepass would never fess up, never say I did it 146 00:10:06,559 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: and why, and wouldn't talk about it. And by denying it, 147 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:15,800 Speaker 1: he basically just set himself up to offend and reoffend 148 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:21,440 Speaker 1: and reoffend. He was released in nineteen seventy nine. Sure enough, 149 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:25,520 Speaker 1: five years only minimum. Again, we make the point that 150 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:29,839 Speaker 1: in the past, I think judges and courts were every 151 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:33,439 Speaker 1: bit as lenient as they are today in most cases. 152 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,680 Speaker 1: In most cases nineteen seventy nine, is released and within 153 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:42,320 Speaker 1: a matter of days he does four separate attacks in 154 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: a ten day period. Twenty eighth of February nineteen Eightyjupas 155 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,320 Speaker 1: received a five year minimum prison sentence for these serious 156 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: sex assaults. A nineteen eighty report on Jepaz stated that 157 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:58,160 Speaker 1: there is little that can be said in his favor. 158 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: Here remains an extreme, disturbed, immature and dangerous man. His 159 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 1: release on parole was a mistake. Well, at least they 160 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 1: told it how it was served the five years February 161 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:13,160 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five. You can see the pattern that's emerging 162 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: with this fellow. Just how predictable an offender. He was 163 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:21,680 Speaker 1: released February eighty five. A month later, he rapes a 164 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 1: twenty one year old woman on a beach at blair 165 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:29,280 Speaker 1: Gowry down on the Mornington Peninsula. Jupas followed this woman 166 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: and attacked her, holding her to the ground at knife 167 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,960 Speaker 1: point before raping her on the twenty eighth of June 168 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:39,160 Speaker 1: eighty five. He's sentenced to twelve years for that rape 169 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: at blair Gary Beach. He's released in nineteen ninety two 170 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:47,800 Speaker 1: after seven years, so twelve year sentence seven year minimum 171 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:54,200 Speaker 1: gets out again. You'd think someone in the system after 172 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:58,320 Speaker 1: all these offenses would have said this fellow should serve 173 00:11:58,559 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 1: every day he possibly can, and then a bit more 174 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: as well. But that's not what happened. They put him 175 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:06,439 Speaker 1: through the system. They shoved him out at the other 176 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:09,959 Speaker 1: end in the minimum of seven years. Less than two 177 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:13,800 Speaker 1: years after that release, Jupez was arrested on charges of 178 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: false imprisonment over an incident at Lake Epilock in January 179 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four. Wearing a hood and armed with a knife, 180 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: insulation tape and handcuffs. He followed a woman and held 181 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:28,200 Speaker 1: her at a knife point in a toilet block, but 182 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:31,920 Speaker 1: was chased off by her friends. He crashed his car 183 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:38,400 Speaker 1: and was caught. So he's not a master criminal. He's 184 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:44,400 Speaker 1: a consistent offender, recidivus offender, but nothing he does is 185 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,360 Speaker 1: particularly well planned. It seems that he's a total creature 186 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 1: of his own impulses. Eighteenth of August nineteen ninety four, 187 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:55,040 Speaker 1: he faces caught at Bendigo over the epilock business. He's 188 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: then sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment with 189 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 1: a minimum of two years and nine months. So he's 190 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: tried to abduct a person in a toilet block, arm 191 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:10,079 Speaker 1: with a knife. He's a multiple offender all his life, 192 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:14,080 Speaker 1: from the time of fifteen, and he still really only 193 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:17,280 Speaker 1: gets a minimum of two years and nine months. He's 194 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 1: released in September ninety six and moved into a house 195 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 1: in Pascal Vale, and this is where the rest of 196 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: us start to hear about him. Before this, he's a 197 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:32,600 Speaker 1: guy that is known to some police and to the 198 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,960 Speaker 1: court system, and would have been known in jail as 199 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,960 Speaker 1: a sex offender. He would have served his time with 200 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,439 Speaker 1: other sex offenders as they used to do it then, 201 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 1: probably places like sale or Arrowrat prison where they would 202 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:55,200 Speaker 1: send people like him. April nineteen ninety nine, Nicole Patterson 203 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:58,960 Speaker 1: was a twenty eight year old psychotherapist and youth counselor 204 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:03,360 Speaker 1: employed to assist young drug users. Nicole wanted her own 205 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:07,120 Speaker 1: private practice and was using her northgot home to practice. 206 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,560 Speaker 1: She placed ads in a local newspaper to attract clients. 207 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: Two neighbors reported hearing the screams of a young woman 208 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 1: coming from Nicole Patterson's house on the day of her murder. 209 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 1: Her boyfriend could not contact her in the afternoon and 210 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: he would have gone around or called the police or whatever. 211 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 1: On a nineteenth of April that year, nineteen ninety nine, 212 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:35,480 Speaker 1: Nicole Patterson's mutilated body was discovered by a friend in 213 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: the front room of her house. There were twenty seven 214 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:42,760 Speaker 1: stab wounds to her chest and back. Her body was 215 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: naked from the waist down, and here is the telltale 216 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:53,040 Speaker 1: sign of dupass's depravity. Both her breasts had been removed 217 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: using a sharp knife. Her handbag and driver's license was stolen. 218 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:04,720 Speaker 1: The murder weapon and Nicole Patterson's breasts were never recovered. 219 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:09,520 Speaker 1: Police investigations of the crime scene revealed that Nicole Patterson 220 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: had a nine am appointment with a new client by 221 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: the name of Quote Malcolm, as noted in her personal diary, 222 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: alongside a mobile telephone number. The number was traced to 223 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:27,920 Speaker 1: an Indian student named Harry. Police learned that Dupass had 224 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: approached Harry with an offer of work. On twenty second 225 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 1: of April nineteen ninety nine, police arrested du Pass at 226 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 1: midday at the Excelsior Hotel in Thomastown and charged him 227 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:45,560 Speaker 1: with murder. The same day. According to telephone records, Jewpass 228 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 1: had made three calls to Nicole Patterson to arrange counseling 229 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: for Quote depression and a gambling addiction. Over the next 230 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:59,600 Speaker 1: six weeks, Duwpass made calls to Nicole Patterson, police believe, 231 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:03,480 Speaker 1: to gauge her vulnerability, to see when she be home 232 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:07,880 Speaker 1: alone and all that sort of stuff. Police noticed scratches 233 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: on Jipass's face and hand. Gepaz claimed that these were 234 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 1: from working in his shed and that a piece of 235 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,520 Speaker 1: wood had hit him while using a lathe in a 236 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: woodworking lathe, but he didn't own a lathe. Small problem 237 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: with his story so he changed his story. A search 238 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: of his home revealed bloodstained clothing, PVC tape of the 239 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 1: type used to bind the col Patterson, a scheme mask, 240 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: newspaper clippings detailing Patterson's murder, and also a paper containing 241 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:46,680 Speaker 1: her advertisement for psychotherapy services. He faced trial in the 242 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:50,960 Speaker 1: year two thousand, and the jury was quick to give 243 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: a guilty verdict, as you would imagine a jury would. 244 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 1: On twenty second of August that year two thousand, while 245 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:04,640 Speaker 1: sentencing your past to life without parole, Judge Frank Vincent 246 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 1: Frank the Tank, as he was fondly known, a man 247 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 1: who represented I think several hundred murderers over his career. 248 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: He was an extraordinarily skilled and willing defense advocate who 249 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:24,080 Speaker 1: became a much admired judge. We hear at life and crimes. 250 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:26,639 Speaker 1: We admire judges. We just like to put that in. 251 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,800 Speaker 1: Frank Vincent said, the prospects of your eventual rehabilitation must 252 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: be regarded as so close to hopeless that they can 253 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:40,159 Speaker 1: be effectively discounted. There is no indication whatsoever that you 254 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,880 Speaker 1: have experienced any sense of remorse for what you have done, 255 00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 1: and I doubt that you are capable of any such 256 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:51,600 Speaker 1: human response at a fundamental level. As human beings, you 257 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 1: present for us the awful, threatening and unanswerable question, how 258 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:01,960 Speaker 1: did you come to be as you are? I think 259 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:07,119 Speaker 1: one of the more memorable judgments made in Victoria, especially 260 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:10,600 Speaker 1: in that era, Frank Vincent was truly appalled at what 261 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: he'd seen and heard in court. You can hear that 262 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:17,840 Speaker 1: reflected in the words he used in that judgment. Jupass 263 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,639 Speaker 1: appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria Court of Appeal 264 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: the following year to try and appeal his conviction for 265 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: the murder. His appeal was dismissed, so it was clear 266 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 1: to police that they should look at du Passes other 267 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 1: movements and see whether they lined up with unsolved sex 268 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:44,480 Speaker 1: murders committed with knives where bodies were mutilated. In nineteen 269 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: ninety seven, there was an unsolved case that year where 270 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:53,920 Speaker 1: a woman called Margaret Josephine mar a sex worker, last 271 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:59,040 Speaker 1: scene alive at the Safeway supermarket just after midnight in 272 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 1: broad Meadows again in October. Interestingly, October nineteen ninety seven, 273 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,919 Speaker 1: she was last sent. Her body was found under a 274 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:14,400 Speaker 1: cardboard box on October the fourth by a fellow called 275 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:18,480 Speaker 1: Ronald mac donald. Who made the discovery while collecting aluminium 276 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:22,119 Speaker 1: cans in the suburb of Somerton, which in those days 277 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: was semi rural and near broad Meadows. A black glove 278 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: was found near Mar's body, which police later confirmed contained 279 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:37,640 Speaker 1: du Passes DNA. A post mortem examination revealed that Margaret 280 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: Mar had suffered a stab wound to her left wrist, 281 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,320 Speaker 1: bruising to her neck, blunt forced trauma to the area 282 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,920 Speaker 1: of her right eyebrow, and lacerations to her right arm, 283 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,919 Speaker 1: but her left breast had been removed and put into 284 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:55,439 Speaker 1: her mouth. At the time, dupass had been out of 285 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 1: prison just over a year after serving time for rape 286 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,320 Speaker 1: and was no longer under the supervision of Corrections Victoria, 287 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 1: and so police working backwards were able to deduce that 288 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: he was the best candidate for this crime, because there 289 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: aren't that many people going around killing women and cutting 290 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:21,800 Speaker 1: off their breasts. Gepaz was already serving a life sentence 291 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,960 Speaker 1: without parole for the murder of Nicole Pattison. Of course, 292 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: at this time, when he was re arrested for the 293 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: murder of Margaret Mahr with gupassing custody, police were able 294 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:38,040 Speaker 1: to obtain a DNA sample which linked him to Mars 295 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: murder three years earlier. During his trial, evidence presented that 296 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:48,280 Speaker 1: the removal of breasts were so strikingly similar as to 297 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:52,960 Speaker 1: be a signature stamp to both crimes, identifying Gepaz as 298 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,560 Speaker 1: the killer of both women. The jury, who was not 299 00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:01,679 Speaker 1: told that Gepaz was already serving life convicted. Upon hearing 300 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,920 Speaker 1: the jury delivered the guilty verdict, Dupass claimed it's a 301 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:10,680 Speaker 1: kangaroo court before he was led away After the guilty verdict. 302 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 1: Kylie Nicholas, Nicole Patterson's sister, discribed him as the most 303 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:25,199 Speaker 1: evil predator, a psychopath, a true evil, predatory, cunning, repulsive person. 304 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: It's such a rare evil that comes into this world 305 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: that has destroyed these women and our lives. We're just 306 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:37,040 Speaker 1: praying that this man is held accountable for everything that 307 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:41,080 Speaker 1: he has done. In August two thousand and four, Dupas 308 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:46,320 Speaker 1: was convicted of killing Margaret Maher back in nineteen ninety 309 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:49,960 Speaker 1: seven and sentenced to a second term of life imprisonment. 310 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,640 Speaker 1: So he's already in for Nicole Patterson and he copies 311 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:59,879 Speaker 1: second life imprisonment. Then comes a case that many of 312 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:02,679 Speaker 1: us have heard of because it became a bit of 313 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:06,440 Speaker 1: a coarse celeb and that it was the unsolved murder 314 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:11,359 Speaker 1: of a young woman called Messina Helfargas. Messina was twenty five. 315 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:14,879 Speaker 1: She was murdered on November the first of nineteen ninety 316 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:18,440 Speaker 1: seven that year again same year as Margaret Mah, while 317 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:22,359 Speaker 1: visiting her grandmother's grave in the Greek Orthodox section of 318 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:27,360 Speaker 1: the Faulkner Cemetery. The alarm was raised by Mersina's fiance 319 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: when she failed to meet with him later that day. 320 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:35,439 Speaker 1: Now you'll recall it earlier we mentioned it. Jupas had 321 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:39,000 Speaker 1: been arrested in a pub in Thomastown for one of 322 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,359 Speaker 1: his offenses, and of course the Faulkland Cemetery is out 323 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 1: in that direction, out on that side of Melbourne. Messina's 324 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:50,040 Speaker 1: body was discovered at four thirty five am on November 325 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:54,359 Speaker 1: fifth by her fiancee in the cemetery, in an empty plot, 326 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:59,280 Speaker 1: three graves from where her grandmother was buried. Police believed 327 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:03,639 Speaker 1: that Mersina was attacked from behind while kneeling to attend 328 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:07,160 Speaker 1: to a flower arrangement, and that she died from massive injuries, 329 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:12,800 Speaker 1: including eighty seven stab wounds around her kne's neck, but 330 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,640 Speaker 1: with most of the wounds concentrated around her breasts. Her 331 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:19,960 Speaker 1: upper clothing had been pulled over her head towards her chest. 332 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:24,160 Speaker 1: Du Pass's home in Cone Street, Pascoe Vale was near 333 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:29,240 Speaker 1: the cemetery. Halvargaz's murder had remained unsolved since nineteen ninety seven, 334 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: with the Victorian government together with police, offering a one 335 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:39,040 Speaker 1: million dollar reward for information leading to an arrest. It 336 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:43,439 Speaker 1: was only the fourth million dollar re ward in Victoria's history. 337 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:49,879 Speaker 1: We should point out here that Mersina Halvargaz's father, mister Halvargus, 338 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:57,360 Speaker 1: had a long concerted campaign for a big reward to 339 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:01,359 Speaker 1: solve his daughter's murder. And he spoke i think to 340 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,720 Speaker 1: Jeff Kennett, but certainly to senior politicians and senior police, 341 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: and he pointed out correctly that there'd been a million 342 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: dollary wood posted over the murder, a terrible murder of 343 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:18,320 Speaker 1: Jane Thurgood Dove at her Nidriy home on Oaksday in 344 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven. And that of course was the murder 345 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:26,560 Speaker 1: where a pop bellied gunman jumped out of a car, 346 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,960 Speaker 1: chased Jane Thurgoodove around her car and shot it dead 347 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:33,800 Speaker 1: in front of a children who were in her car. 348 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 1: And it was a case of mistaken identity. The stupid 349 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 1: gunman alleged hitmen had been hired by another crook to 350 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:45,879 Speaker 1: kill the wife of yet another crook, and the woman 351 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,159 Speaker 1: that they intended to kill lived in the same street 352 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:51,680 Speaker 1: as Jane Thurgoodove, and they shot the wrong one. It's 353 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,840 Speaker 1: not better or worse. Killing anyone's bad, but proh Jane 354 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: Thurgoodove was shot dead in front of her kids because 355 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:03,560 Speaker 1: she happened to look a little bit like another woman 356 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:08,280 Speaker 1: living in the same street. But Jane Thurgodove was a young, blonde, 357 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:13,200 Speaker 1: attractive and her case attracted a lot of attention, naturally, 358 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:15,959 Speaker 1: and there was a million dollar reward posted for it, 359 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:21,840 Speaker 1: and Mersina Helvargas's father, Bless his soul, pointed out that 360 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: it didn't seem fair that his daughter's death did not 361 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,199 Speaker 1: attract a similar reward, and he made his case to 362 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,399 Speaker 1: the authorities, and they agreed, and they posted a million 363 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:35,280 Speaker 1: dollar reward to try and solve the Messina Helvargas case. 364 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: This led to renewed interest in the case. It was 365 00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:46,920 Speaker 1: fairly clear to investigators that Jupass would have to be 366 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,840 Speaker 1: a prime candidate for these reasons, and these reasons were 367 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:55,960 Speaker 1: cited at the inquest into Mersina's death. Nine witnesses identified 368 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:59,119 Speaker 1: Youpass as a man they saw at Fulkland Cemetery on 369 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:04,879 Speaker 1: the day of the attack of the murder. Jupasz's grandfather's 370 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,560 Speaker 1: gravesite is located one hundred and twenty eight meters from 371 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: the crime scene. He'd been there before with his family. 372 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:16,440 Speaker 1: Dupaz frequented the First and Last Hotel, which is located 373 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:20,359 Speaker 1: just opposite the cemetery. Dupas lied to police about a 374 00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:24,200 Speaker 1: facial injury received at around the time of the attack 375 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: on Helvagas. Jupaz attempted to alter his appearance. After the 376 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:35,920 Speaker 1: Helvagas murder, Dupaz was identified by a woman from police photographs. 377 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:40,119 Speaker 1: She said she'd seen him a few minutes before the attack, 378 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:46,680 Speaker 1: twenty meters from where Messina Helvagas was murdered. These would 379 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 1: seem to be a comprehensive and re damning list of 380 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 1: witnesses against Peter Dupaz, who of course was already serving 381 00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:59,920 Speaker 1: two life sentences for similar murders. A senior detective told 382 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: the inquest that a car used by Dupass at the 383 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:05,639 Speaker 1: time of the murder was sold to a work associate 384 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:10,400 Speaker 1: soon after the murder just another thing. Forensic pathologist David Ransom, 385 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:14,040 Speaker 1: who compared wounds suffered by Helvagas to the wounds suffered 386 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 1: by Patterson and mar told the Inquest that strictly speaking, 387 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:22,440 Speaker 1: there was insufficient evidence to show that the wounds were 388 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 1: inflicted by the same knife. That doesn't mean it wasn't 389 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 1: inflicted by the same man, of course. Dupasz's lawyer, David 390 00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:33,560 Speaker 1: Drake said the only evidence linking Dupas to the murder 391 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:37,400 Speaker 1: of Messina Halvargas was the fact that Dupas had lived 392 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: near For con symmetry and his reputation based on prior 393 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,639 Speaker 1: convictions for similar offenses. Well, he makes a good point 394 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,800 Speaker 1: that he did live near there, and he did have 395 00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,920 Speaker 1: a very powerful reputation for similar offenses, and the list 396 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: of witnesses would seem to make it overwhelming. The upshot 397 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: was that in two thousand and six, the inquest was 398 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:05,720 Speaker 1: adjourned indefinitely following charges laid by police for the murder 399 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:09,920 Speaker 1: of Messina Helvagas. After obtaining a court order granting permission 400 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:14,920 Speaker 1: to interview dupass in relation to Messina Halvagas's murder, police 401 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 1: collected him from Bown prison in September two thousand and 402 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,800 Speaker 1: six and took him to Saint Kilda Road Police station 403 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:27,719 Speaker 1: for questioning. They charged Dupass with the murder, and they 404 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: did this after receiving certain key information from our old 405 00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 1: friend of the late rogue lawyer Andrew Fraser, who it's 406 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: well known, while serving time at Fulham Prison near Saal, 407 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 1: told detectives who came up there to talk to him 408 00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 1: that in fact Dupas had confessed to the killing while 409 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: they were gardening together in Port Philip Prison back in 410 00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:01,120 Speaker 1: two thousand and two. Fraser told police he had once 411 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:05,440 Speaker 1: found a home made knife concealed among the weeds at 412 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,480 Speaker 1: Port Philip Prison and that he called Dupas over to 413 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:13,480 Speaker 1: inspect it, which is when they got talking and Gepass 414 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:19,320 Speaker 1: confessed the crime. He confessed to killing Mersina and Phraser 415 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:21,520 Speaker 1: said this. We regularly used to find stuff hidden in 416 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 1: the garden, drugs, weapons and other stuff. I once found 417 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 1: a home made knife and called Gepass over to show 418 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: it to him. He took it off me and started 419 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:33,120 Speaker 1: handling it, almost caressing it in a sexual way. Gepass 420 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,440 Speaker 1: then started saying Messina, Mersina over and over with this 421 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:40,520 Speaker 1: strange look on his face. I was left in no 422 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: doubt that Dupass murdered Mersina. This wasn't some sort of 423 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,440 Speaker 1: jail house confession where somebody's gone in and sat in 424 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,040 Speaker 1: the cell one night and had a brew with another 425 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 1: prisoner and somebody has allegedly said something. It's a lot 426 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:58,000 Speaker 1: stronger than that. Gepass and I spoke regularly, just the 427 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:01,200 Speaker 1: two of us. This was over months, months that he 428 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:05,000 Speaker 1: was talking to me and confiding in me. There was 429 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 1: one occasion when another prisoner came up to us when 430 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:11,280 Speaker 1: we were gardening and started abusing Gupass. This prisoner was 431 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:15,200 Speaker 1: yelling at Gipaz, saying, you killed Merceina, You killed Mersina. 432 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,200 Speaker 1: After he had gone, Gepaz turned to me and said, 433 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:22,840 Speaker 1: how does that expleeve deleted? No, I did it. After 434 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:26,760 Speaker 1: agreeing to give evidence against Gepasz, Andrew Fraser was released 435 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:30,760 Speaker 1: from Fulham Correctional Center in September two thousand and six, 436 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,800 Speaker 1: a few weeks early of his five year sentence for 437 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:37,840 Speaker 1: drug trafficking. We all know that Andrew Fraser's story. We 438 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 1: have talked to him in this very studio at length 439 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:45,760 Speaker 1: about that and other matters. Of course, he died last year. 440 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:50,920 Speaker 1: The Victorian government, in its wisdom, said that Andrew Fraser 441 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,280 Speaker 1: was eligible for a share of the one million dollar 442 00:30:54,400 --> 00:31:01,800 Speaker 1: reward because without Fraser's key evidence about pass, they wouldn't 443 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:08,160 Speaker 1: have got the conviction against Dupas for the Helvagas murder, 444 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:12,000 Speaker 1: a conviction which in one sense didn't matter because he 445 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:15,000 Speaker 1: was already serving life, but it mattered a lot to 446 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:19,760 Speaker 1: Mersina Helvargas's family, and so it was worth doing. The 447 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:24,040 Speaker 1: exercise was worth doing. And the key evidence that Fraser 448 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:29,760 Speaker 1: gave was that Dupas had demonstrated to him miming how 449 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 1: he had stabbed Mersina whilst she was in a kneeling position, 450 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:38,640 Speaker 1: and he was able to come up with details which 451 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:42,880 Speaker 1: the police knew accorded with the facts, and those facts. 452 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:46,320 Speaker 1: Not all those facts have been made public, so if 453 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 1: Fraser hadn't got them from Dupaz, there was no other 454 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,840 Speaker 1: way for him to get these certain details. And so 455 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 1: the court accepted his evidence and he received part of 456 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:01,680 Speaker 1: the reward. How much he got, I don't know, but 457 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:04,479 Speaker 1: I always got the impression that was several hundred thousand dollars. 458 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:09,280 Speaker 1: It wasn't, you know, twenty grand or something, but it 459 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:12,280 Speaker 1: was probably not north of half a minute. There are 460 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:15,520 Speaker 1: some postscripts to the terrible story of Peter Gupaz and 461 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:19,240 Speaker 1: later on police were able to look through files and 462 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:24,000 Speaker 1: see if they could match up Dupas's whereabouts with other 463 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:27,280 Speaker 1: unsolved crimes. There was the murder of a woman called 464 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:30,760 Speaker 1: Helen McMahon. She was a forty seven year old bashed 465 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,840 Speaker 1: to death at a Rye beach in February nineteen eighty five. 466 00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:39,560 Speaker 1: Although Dupas was technically imprisoned at the time of her 467 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:43,600 Speaker 1: murder and was not formally released until two weeks later, 468 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:48,360 Speaker 1: investigators learned that he was on pre release leave and 469 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:51,240 Speaker 1: in the Rye area when she was killed. Well, that 470 00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: was handy. Just goes to show that records can be misleading. 471 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:00,200 Speaker 1: The record showed that he was in jail, was in 472 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:04,440 Speaker 1: the control of corrections, Victoria or something, but the reality 473 00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:08,160 Speaker 1: was he was on a temporary release and he took 474 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: the opportunity, probably to kill that woman. Halen McMahon was 475 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:14,920 Speaker 1: sunbathing topless on the beach when she was attacked. Her 476 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 1: body was discovered naked, covered by her beach tail. The 477 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:22,600 Speaker 1: location was near where Gepass had earlier raped the twenty 478 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:24,600 Speaker 1: one year old woman at Blair Garry. The case we 479 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:29,800 Speaker 1: spoke about. Police believed that Helen McMahon in the nineteen 480 00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 1: eighty five was probably Dupass's first murder victim, although her 481 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:40,720 Speaker 1: murder officially remains unsolved. Then in nineteen ninety three, there 482 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,760 Speaker 1: was the murder of a thirty one year old woman 483 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:48,280 Speaker 1: called Rnita Brunton in Sunbury that was never solved, but 484 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:52,280 Speaker 1: some elements of that make police think that Dupass was 485 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:55,560 Speaker 1: good for it. And this case a case that I 486 00:33:55,640 --> 00:34:00,560 Speaker 1: remember writing about when it happened, it was a mystery, strange, disturbing, 487 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:06,480 Speaker 1: terrible thing. A ninety five year old woman called Kathleen Downs, 488 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:09,880 Speaker 1: who was living at the Brunswick Lodge nursing home, was 489 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:12,719 Speaker 1: stabbed to death at six thirty in the morning on 490 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 1: December the thirty first, that is New Year's Eve, nineteen 491 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:23,080 Speaker 1: ninety seven, one month after Messina Halvagas's murder. Police investigations 492 00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: later revealed that Jupass had telephoned the nursing home some 493 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:32,200 Speaker 1: time before the murder. No charges have been laid regarding 494 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:36,160 Speaker 1: Kathleen downs murder. At the time I recall this, it 495 00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:39,319 Speaker 1: was regarded as just a complete mystery. Who had done this? 496 00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:43,200 Speaker 1: A shocking crime, complete mystery. Who was Only later on 497 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,279 Speaker 1: police Rabela join the Dotson work out that it was 498 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:50,480 Speaker 1: probably him, and so that rules a line under the 499 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:55,960 Speaker 1: Terrible Life and Crimes of a terrible man, Peter Dupaz, 500 00:34:56,239 --> 00:35:01,719 Speaker 1: someone who we suspected was probably born bent in the 501 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:07,000 Speaker 1: way that very few people are. It's conceivable that some 502 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:12,080 Speaker 1: other notorious offenders were also born with a kink in 503 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:17,000 Speaker 1: their brain. And you'd have to wonder about Paul Charles Daniel, 504 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:20,320 Speaker 1: who killed three young women back in the late nineties. 505 00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:24,000 Speaker 1: You would have to wonder about Derek Edward Percy, who 506 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:28,960 Speaker 1: had shown very sinister and strange impulses from the time 507 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:34,080 Speaker 1: that he was a young child. However, most of the 508 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:38,919 Speaker 1: people who go on to be violent offenders have been 509 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:44,799 Speaker 1: offended against themselves, and mostly it's a case of as 510 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:50,800 Speaker 1: the Twiggies bent the tree shall grow, only a handful 511 00:35:52,080 --> 00:36:01,080 Speaker 1: are born as bent as Peter Jupaz. Thanks for listening. 512 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 1: Life and Crimes is a Sunday Herald Sun production for 513 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:09,920 Speaker 1: True Crime Australia. Our producer is Johnty Burton. For my columns, 514 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 1: features and more, go to Heraldsun dot com dot au, 515 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:20,200 Speaker 1: forward slash Andrew Rule one word. For advertising inquiries, go 516 00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:25,120 Speaker 1: to news Podcasts sold at News dot com dot au 517 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:30,799 Speaker 1: that is all one word news podcasts sold and if 518 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:35,239 Speaker 1: you want further information about this episode, links are in 519 00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:36,200 Speaker 1: the description.