‘You killed those two girls’: Easey St interview aired
Emily Woods |
“You killed those two bloody girls, there’s no doubt about it. You know it and every bloody detective that worked this bloody case knows it too.”
A detective’s questioning of a man who dated one of the Easey Street double murder victims almost half a century ago has been aired in court as a different man stands accused of the killing.
Lawyers for Perry Kouroumblis, 66, spent a second day questioning witnesses and police over the 1977 deaths of Suzanne Armstrong, 28, and Susan Bartlett, 27.
Audio from a police interview of Barry Woodard, who dated Ms Armstrong in the weeks before she was found dead, was aired as retired homicide detective Adrian Donehue gave evidence about his investigation.
“You know more than this Barry, you killed those two people, I bloody know, and you know, you killed those girls,” the detective said.
“You were there at two o’clock in the bloody morning, dancing around with big Sue Bartlett playing Greek music.”
Mr Woodard, 80, told Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday he visited the home the day before their bodies were found and left a note with his phone number, but adamantly denied any involvement in the murders.
He can be heard repeatedly denying the claims in the recording, and asking for a solicitor, but the detective pushed on.
“What do you need a solicitor for mate, you’re telling me you didn’t do it?,” the detective asks.
“It’s not me, I can tell you that,” Mr Woodard, then aged in his early 30s, replied.
Mr Donehue said he was not the detective asking questions of Woodard, and was not sure who it was.
Outside court, he was questioned by journalists about whether he was one of the detectives who “tried to intimidate” witnesses and other people in interviews.
“I probably was,” Mr Donehue said.
“I have to say that, don’t I? It’s in the diary.”
Asked whether police have the right suspect in Kouroumblis, he replied: “Well, I hope so”.
“Time will tell, won’t it,” the retired detective said.
He added that the Easey Street case was one of “hundreds” of homicides he had investigated during his career.
Mr Woodard is one of several men who have been questioned over the past five decades over the killing.
Kouroumblis’ legal team claim identity is the main issue in the case against their client.
The 66-year-old was extradited from Italy in December 2024 to face two murder charges and one count of rape following DNA testing developments allegedly linking him to the crime scene.
His barrister Dermot Dann KC has accused detectives of trying to intimidate Mr Woodard and force a confession, and on Wednesday said he was “just one example of a person being falsely accused by police of these terrible crimes”.
Earlier, Easey Street neighbour and former sports journalist Ilona Miklosvary, formerly Stevens, was questioned about her ex-colleague John Grant.
The then-crime reporter had stayed at her home on January 10, a few days before she found the two women dead.
At the time Mr Grant been linked to another killing – the unsolved murder of Julia Ann Garciacelay, 18 months earlier.
Mr Grant has never been charged in connection with Ms Garciacelay’s death.
Reading her statement from 1977, Mr Dann said she told police that “after a few drinks” Mr Grant was “foul-mouthed”.
She did not remember saying this to police, but added “it was in keeping with most of the men I knew”.
Mr Dann said she told police she believed Mr Grant was “capable” of the Easey Street murders at the time, which she said she did not remember.
At the end of the committal, magistrate Brett Sonnet will decide whether there is enough evidence to send the matter to the Supreme Court.
Kouroumblis denies any involvement in the murders and will plead not guilty if committed to stand trial.
The hearing will return on November 24.
AAP
