Peter Dupas

Peter Norris Dupas (born 6 July 1953) is an Australian convicted serial killer, currently serving three life sentences without parole for murder and primarily for being a serious habitual offender. He has a very significant criminal history involving serious sexual and violent offences, with his violent criminal history spanning more than three decades, and with every release from prison has been known to commit further crimes against women with increasing levels of violence. His criminal signature is to remove the breasts of his female victims.

As of 2007, Dupas has been convicted of three murders and is a prime suspect in at least three other murders committed in the vicinity of the Melbourne area during the 1980s and 1990s.

Early life Peter Dupas was the youngest of three children, born into what has been described as "a fairly normal family." Born in Sydney, New South Wales, his family moved to Melbourne, Victoria while he was still a toddler. With both siblings considerably older, his elderly parents treated him much like an only child. Dupas left high school upon completing Grade 10 and later obtained his Higher School Certificate. Dupas was apprehended after he stabbed the woman in the face, neck, and hand as she attempted to fight off his attack. He later told police he could not help himself and did not know why he began to attack the woman.

In October 1969, a mortuary located at the Austin Hospital was broken into. The bodies of two elderly women were mutilated using a pathologist's knife. One body contained a strange wound inflicted with a knife to the area of the thigh. Police believe Dupas was involved in the break-in as the wounds inflicted matched that of a later murder victim, Nicole Patterson. After Dupas was sentenced, prison psychiatrist Dr. Allen Bartholomew noted Dupas was in constant denial of his criminal activity, remarking that: "I am reasonably certain that this youth has a serious psychosexual problem, that he is using the technique of denial as a coping device and that he is to be seen as potentially dangerous. The denial technique makes for huge difficulty in treatment." In September 1996, Dupas was again released from prison and moved into a house in the Melbourne suburb of Pascoe Vale. The number was traced to an Indian student studying at La Trobe University named "Harry." Police learned Dupas had approached Harry with an offer of labouring work. On 22 April 1999, police arrested Dupas at midday at the Excelsior Hotel in Thomastown and charged him with the murder of Patterson later the same day.

Margaret Maher

Margaret Josephine Maher, 40, was a sex worker working in the Melbourne area who was last seen alive at the Safeway supermarket at 12:20 a.m. in Broadmeadows on 4 October 1997. A black woollen glove was found near Maher's body which police later confirmed contained DNA matching that of Dupas.

A post-mortem examination revealed Maher had suffered a stab wound to her left wrist, bruising to her neck, blunt force trauma with a cinder block to the area of her right eyebrow, and lacerations to her right arm.

On 16 August 2004, Dupas was convicted of the 4 October 1997, murder of Maher and sentenced to a second term of life imprisonment. During sentencing, Kaye remarked he would have sentenced Dupas for a life term for Maher's murder even if he had not killed Patterson and also remarked he would have sentenced Dupas for a life term for his next crime, even if had not have killed anyone, because Dupas was a very serious violent habitual offender with no signs of rehabilitation, saying:

"In view of your appalling criminal history, and in view of the particularly serious nature of the crime for which you have been convicted, it is only appropriate that you be sentenced to life imprisonment. Even if the murder of Nicole Patterson had never occurred, I would have no hesitation in imposing a term of life imprisonment upon you.

"It is clear, both in the present case and from your previous convictions for rape and like offences, that your offending is connected with a need by you to vindicate a perverted and sadistic hatred of women and a contempt for them and their right to live. As such the present offence must be characterised as being in one of the most serious categories of murders which come before this Court.

"You intentionally killed a harmless, defenceless woman who, like all your other victims, had no prospect of protecting herself against you. At the time you committed that offence, you had, over almost three decades, terrorised women in this State. You have repeatedly violated a central norm of a decent civilised society. Your conduct in the present case is without mitigation or palliation. There has been no recognition by you of your wrongdoing. Rather, you repeated the same offence, with even more brutality, 18 months after murdering Margaret Maher.

"Based on your repeated violent offences, and on the gravity of this offence, there is no prospect of your rehabilitation. Nothing was advanced on your behalf to reflect that there is even the faintest glimmer of hope for you. Even if there were, any considerations of rehabilitation must, in this case, be subordinated to the gravity of your offending, the need for the imposition of a just punishment, and the principle of general deterrence. All those circumstances combine, in my view, not only to justify, but also to require that I do not fix a minimum term." The alarm was raised by Halvagis's fiancé when she failed to meet with him later that day as the couple had planned.

Frank Cole, an elderly resident of Pascoe Vale, claims he saw Dupas leaving the Fawkner Cemetery on the day of the murder. An anonymous female who was visiting her parents' grave on the day of the murder had also seen Dupas wearing sunglasses casually jogging throughout the cemetery.

Inquest An inquest into Halvagis's death before coroner Graeme Johnstone heard circumstantial evidence in the case against Dupas in relation to the murder;

Nine witnesses identified Dupas as a man they saw at Fawkner Cemetery on the day Halvagis was attacked. Dupas's grandfather's gravesite is located 128 metres from the crime scene. Dupas frequented the 'First and Last Hotel,' located opposite Fawkner Cemetery. Dupas lied to police about a facial injury received about the time of the attack on Halvagis. Dupas attempted to alter his appearance after Halvagis's murder. Dupas was identified from police photographs by a woman who said she saw him minutes before the attack 20 metres from where Halvagis's murder occurred.

Senior Detective Scarlett told the inquest a car known to be used by Dupas at the time of the murder was sold to a work associate in the month following the murder of Halvagis. The car has since been crushed for scrap metal and was never examined by detectives.

Forensic pathologist Professor David Ransom, who compared wounds suffered by Halvagis to those suffered by Patterson and Maher, told the inquest there was insufficient evidence to suggest the wounds suffered by Halvagis were inflicted using the same knife or by the same person who had murdered Dupas's other victims.

Dupas's lawyer, David Drake, advised the inquest that the only evidence linking Dupas to the murder of Halvagis was that Dupas had lived nearby to the Fawkner Cemetery, and his reputation based on prior convictions for similar offences. He further said police had relied upon their beliefs that Dupas had a propensity to attack women using knives, thereby linking him to the crime.

Arrest After obtaining a court order granting permission to interview Dupas in relation to Halvagis's murder, police collected Dupas from HM Prison Barwon on 2 September 2006, taking him to the St Kilda Road Police Headquarters in Melbourne for questioning. after disgraced Melbourne lawyer, Andrew Fraser, revealed Dupas confessed to the killing of Halvagis while gardening weeds in Port Phillip Prison during 2002.

Fraser told police he once found a homemade knife concealed among weeds at Port Phillip Prison and he called Dupas over to inspect it, which is when the confession occurred:

"We regularly used to find stuff hidden in the garden, drugs, weapons and other stuff. I once found a homemade knife and called Dupas over to show it to him. He took it off me and started handling it, almost caressing it in a sexual way. Dupas then started saying 'Mersina, Mersina' over and over with this strange look on his face. I was certainly left in no doubt that Dupas murdered Mersina.

"This wasn't some sort of jailhouse confession where somebody has gone in and sat in a cell one night and had a brew with another prisoner and somebody has allegedly said something. It's a lot stronger than that. Dupas and I spoke regularly, just the two of us. This was over months and months that he was talking to me and confiding in me.

"There was one occasion when another prisoner came up to us when we were gardening and started abusing Dupas. This prisoner was yelling at Dupas saying, 'You killed Mersina, you killed Mersina'.

"After he had gone, Dupas turned to me and said 'How does that cunt know I did it?' On 26 September 2006, Dupas appeared via video link in the Supreme Court of Victoria, charged with Halvagis's murder, entering a plea of not guilty. Drake, Dupas's barrister, told the Supreme Court his client was being unfairly dealt with by skipping the usual process of a committal hearing in the Magistrates' Court. On 14 November 2006, Dupas appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria before Justice John Coldrey, where he requested an opportunity to be able to cross-examine witness Andrew Fraser before a criminal trial takes place.

On 12 December 2006, the Supreme Court of Victoria ordered Dupas be presented directly to trial for the murder of Halvagis, bypassing the usual committal hearing process.

Trial The trial for the murder of Halvagis ran for 22 days. On 9 July 2007, the jury selected for the trial was discharged on a "legal technicality" when prosecutor Colin Hillman advised Justice Philip Cummins that a failure to comply with the Jury Act had occurred when potential jurors were not advised of the possible duration of the trial.

Prosecution witness and disgraced lawyer Andrew Fraser described to the jury how Dupas attacked Halvagis. Fraser has now submitted a claim to the $1 million reward.

Dupas was found guilty of the murder of Halvagis on 9 August 2007 and appeared for a pre-sentencing hearing eight days later. Dupas was sentenced to his third life sentence with no minimum term. The sentencing judge allowed permission for one television camera to record the sentencing of Dupas, the only televised sentencing in Australia since the 1995 sentencing of child killer Nathan John Avent. Upon sentencing Dupas, the judge said "life means life".

On 10 September 2007, lawyers for Dupas submitted an appeal on the basis that the verdict of guilty for the murder of Halvagis was unsafe and unsatisfactory.

On 17 September 2009, Dupas's appeal against the conviction was upheld in Victoria's Court of Appeal by a two-to-one majority. The Court ruled that the directions of the judge in the original trial were inadequate. On 14 October 2009, lawyers for Dupas argued that the proceedings against him should be stayed permanently based on the publicity surrounding the case. Victorian Supreme Court Justice Paul Coghlan disagreed and set the trial date for 7 April 2010. On 26 October 2010, a new trial for the murder of Halvagis commenced in the Victorian Supreme Court. On 19 November 2010, Dupas was again convicted of the murder of Halvagis after three-and-a-half days of deliberations by the jury. On 26 November 2010, Dupas was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Due to a court injunction in 2019, Channel Seven was prevented from screening the episode of Beyond the Darklands featuring Dupas.

Other suspected murders Helen McMahon McMahon was a 47-year-old woman found beaten to death on a Rye beach on 13 February 1985. She was sunbathing topless on the beach when she was attacked. Her body was discovered naked and covered by her beach towel. The location of the murder was near the location where Dupas had earlier raped a 21-year-old woman at a beach in Blairgowrie, for which he was convicted and served a term of imprisonment. It was originally thought Dupas was in prison at the time of McMahon's murder and was not released until two weeks later; however, investigators learned that Dupas was on pre-release leave from prison and living in the Rye area when McMahon was killed. Investigators found that Brunton had been stabbed 106 times.

Kathleen Downes Dupas is a suspect in the murder of 95-year-old Downes at the Brunswick Lodge nursing home in Brunswick. Downes was stabbed to death at 6:30 a.m. on 31 December 1997, one month after Halvagis's murder. Police investigations revealed Dupas had telephoned the nursing home some time before the murder. Dupas was charged with Downes's murder in February 2018.

Marriage While imprisoned at Melbourne's Pentridge Prison, Dupas formed a relationship with mental health nurse Grace McConnell, who was 16 years his senior. The pair married in 1987 inside Castlemaine Gaol.

"Our sex life was very basic, almost non-existent. I would go along with it out of a sense of responsibility ... It got to the stage where I could not bear him touching me.

His new wife found him to be self-obsessed, lazy, needy, and a snob, and they divorced during the mid-1990s.

Prison life As of 2006, Dupas was serving his sentences between the maximum-security protection unit of Port Phillip Correctional Centre, at Laverton and HM Prison Barwon in Lara, a northern suburb of Geelong. He has attempted suicide several times while imprisoned. Prison staff describe him as a model prisoner while in custody and "a monster" whenever released.

Summary of criminal convictions Before his first conviction for murder, Dupas had 16 prior convictions involving acts of sexual violence from six court appearances between 27 March 1972 and 11 November 1994. DateConvictionComments 25 July 1974 Rape Sentenced to 9 years of imprisonment. 28 February 1980 Rape Committed two months after his release from prison. Sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment. 28 June 1985 Rape Committed 4 days after his release from prison. Sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment. 18 August 1994 False imprisonment Sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment. 22 August 2000 Murder Nicole Patterson. Sentenced to life imprisonment with no minimum period. 16 August 2004 Murder Margaret Maher. Sentenced to life imprisonment with no minimum period. 9 August 2007 Murder Mersina Halvagis. Sentenced to life imprisonment with no minimum period on 27 August 2007. Conviction set aside after successful appeal by Dupas. 19 November 2010 Murder Mersina Halvagis (retrial). Sentenced to life imprisonment with no minimum period on 26 November 2010.

Chronology 6 July 1953 Peter Norris Dupas born. 3 October 1968 at age fifteen he stabbed his female neighbour and received eighteen months' probation. 25 July 1974 sentenced to 5 to 9 years' imprisonment for rape aged 21. 1979 approximately two months after his release from prison, Dupas again molested women in four separate attacks over a ten-day period. 28 February 1980 Dupas received a five-year minimum prison sentence for three charges of assault with intent to rape, malicious wounding, assault with intent to rob, and indecent assault. 1985 February released from prison. 28 June 1985 Dupas was sentenced to twelve years' imprisonment for rape that was committed four days after his release from prison Less than two years after his release from prison, Dupas was arrested on charges of false imprisonment over an incident at Lake Eppalock in January 1994. 18 August 1994 after entering a guilty plea to one count of false imprisonment, Dupas was sentenced to three years and nine months' imprisonment, with a minimum period of two years and nine months. September 1996 Dupas released from prison. 4 October 1997 The murdered body of Maher was discovered. 1 November 1997 Halvagis murdered. Body discovered the next day. 31 December 1997 Downes murdered. Dupas charged with murder in February 2018 19 April 1999 The body of Patterson was discovered. 22 April 1999 Police arrested Dupas. 22 August 2000 Sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Patterson with no minimum period. 16 August 2004 Dupas was convicted of the murder of Maher and sentenced to a second term of life imprisonment. 11 September 2006 Police charged Dupas with the murder of Halvagis. 9 August 2007 Dupas was convicted of the murder of Halvagis. 27 August 2007 Dupas sentenced to serve life imprisonment for the murder of Halvagis. 17 September 2009 Dupas's appeal upheld against conviction for the murder of Halvagis, verdict set aside. 25 October 2010 second trial for the murder of Halvagis begins. 19 November 2010 Dupas is convicted for a second time of the Halvagis murder. 26 November 2010 sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Halvagis, with no minimum term. This means that Dupas will not be eligible for parole, due to no minimum term being fixed, and will spend the rest of his life in prison.