Perry Kouroumblis, the accused Easey Street killer, has been described as a “difficult” and “non-friendly” person by an estranged relative in Greece.
Kouroumblis was arrested at Rome Airport last week over the double murder of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett at their home in Melbourne’s Collingwood in 1977. Armstrong had also been raped.
He was stopped by police and found with a knife about a week after the murders but never charged over the killings that shocked Melbourne.
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The 65-year-old then left Melbourne for Greece in 2017, when he was a person of interest in the case.
Since then, he had been staying at a family compound in Athens, his cousin – also named Perry Kouroumblis – told 9News.
The cousin claimed the accused killer had been difficult to deal with growing up and revealed that he had been previously jailed in Greece over a burglary.
”When he was a teenager, he was a problem boy,” Kouroumblis, the cousin of the accused, claimed.
“He was a difficult guy, closed person, not friendly.
“Police said he went in the houses, unlocked the door with an instrument, and (went) inside (to) steal.
“My father was a policeman … and he tried to make him better … (but) nothing (changed).”
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He said Kouroumblis was staying with a relative before the alleged robbery in Greece.
“He was alone here when he was 14 years old. The parents lived in Australia,” he said.
The cousin said he was arrested himself over the Greece robbery after authorities got confused by their identical names.
He has not spoken to his cousin in a decade.
The new details come after Italian authorities indicated they would likely allow Kouroumblis to be extradited to Melbourne.
He is being held in a Rome jail.
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