Serial killers and true crime

Dupas suffered head injuries after being attacked at the maximum security Barwon Prison, near Geelong.

It is believed Dupas is being held in a protection section. Corrections authorities have assessed that he is at risk of being attacked in mainstream sections of the prison because of the nature of his crimes.

It is unclear what sparked yesterday’s violence. A Corrections Victoria spokesman yesterday declined to comment on the identity of the attack victim.

“A 58-year-old prisoner was treated in hospital for minor injuries following an incident at Barwon Prison. He has since been returned to the prison,” the spokesman said.

Dupas is currently appealing his conviction over the murder of Mersina Halvagis at Fawkner Cemetery on November 1, 1997.

Story

This one has a story and a video.  Both articles report that he is back in his cell so it was not a very severe beating.

Convicted killer Peter Dupas has been beaten up in jail, according to newspaper reports.

Dupas suffered head injuries after being attacked at the maximum security Barwon Prison, near Geelong, on Sunday and was taken to hospital but was now back in his cell, News Ltd papers report on Monday.

Dupas, 58, was convicted for the murder of Mersina Halvagis at Fawkner Cemetery on November 1, 1997

 

I have a hard time feeling bad for him. Crime Library begins their story on him like this:

Peter Dupas was a predatory sex monster of the worst kind: A cruel and calculating fiend who meticulously went about his depravity and could then melt into a crowd in a heartbeat.  A man so ordinary and inconspicuous that it was almost impossible to believe that he could commit such atrocities. That is the way his victims saw him and, time and again, they allowed him into their company.

He left those who survived so traumatized that some could never again go to sleep with the light off or walk down their own hallway unaccompanied. No sooner was Peter Dupas out of jail than he would re-offend, each time worse than the last, until he killed and was finally locked away, where he would never be allowed to hurt anyone again.

He was born into a loving family but was still a criminal by age 15.

On October 3, 1968, while wearing his school uniform, Dupas went to the house next door and asked his friendly 27-year-old neighbor, who was nursing her five-week-old baby, if he could borrow a sharp knife so he could peel some potatoes. As the woman commented on what a good boy he was for helping his mother with the cooking, he lunged at her with the knife and stabbed her in the stomach without saying a word.

“He knocked me down onto the floor and fell on top of me,” the woman told the police. “He kept on stabbing me with the knife and I kept trying to ward him off. I felt the knife cut into my hands, mainly my right hand, my face and my neck.

Crime Library

He was given probation.

He went on to rape, rob, and murder.

This is from Wikipedia’s Article on Dupas:

Chronology

• 6 July 1953 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 during 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.
• 1996 September Dupas released from prison
• 4 October 1997 The murdered body of Margaret Josephine Maher was discovered.
• 1 November 1997 Mersina Halvagis murdered. Body discovered the next day.
• 19 April 1999 The murdered body of Nicole Amanda Patterson was discovered.
• 22 April 1999 police arrested Dupas
• 22 August 2000 Sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Nicole 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 Mersina Halvagis
• 9 August 2007 Dupas was convicted of the murder of Mersina Halvagis.
• 27 August 2007 Dupas sentenced to serve life imprisonment for the murder of Mersina Halvagis.
• 17 September 2009 Dupas’ appeal upheld against conviction for the murder of Mersina Halvagis, verdict set aside.
• 25 October 2010 second trial for the murder of Mersina 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 Mersina Halvagis, with no minimum term.