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Prosecutors have reintroduced a rape charge against the man accused of the Easey Street double homicide, after a magistrate had previously dismissed the allegation.
Perry Kouroumblis, aged 66, is now set to face trial in the Supreme Court for the purported 1977 slayings of Suzanne Armstrong, 28, and Susan Bartlett, 27.
Kouroumblis was originally charged with two murder counts and a charge of rape, which was referred to as carnal knowledge without consent during the 1970s.
Nevertheless, in November, magistrate Brett Sonnet decided to drop the rape allegation following a committal hearing.
This week, prosecutor Patrick Bourke SC announced in the Supreme Court that a new indictment has been lodged, incorporating two murder charges along with the reinstated rape charge.
Kouroumblis has pleaded not guilty and denies all offences.
During the brief hearing, Kouroumblis’ barrister Dermot Dann KC said his client maintained “he was not responsible for the killing of the two persons”.
He said the fresh indictment was “something that needed to be considered” by the defence ahead of pre-trial hearings.
Bodies of the two women were found by their neighbours inside their Easey Street home in Collingwood, inner-Melbourne, on January 13, 1977.