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[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

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On 27 August 2007 NineMSN reported “Camera to record Dupas' murder sentence”

It said that a TV camera will be allowed into Victoria's Supreme Court to capture the sentence of triple killer Peter Norris Dupas for the 1997 murder of Mersina Halvagis. Dupas, 54, was found guilty of the brutal stabbing murder of Ms Halvagis, 25, as she tended her grandmother's grave at Fawkner Cemetery in November 1997. Dupas pleaded not guilty to the murder.

News Limited newspapers report on Monday that Justice Philip Cummins will allow a single TV camera into the court. Dupas is serving two life sentences with no parole for the murders of Nicole Patterson in 1999 and Margaret Maher 18 months earlier. The first televised sentence occurred in 1995 when Nathan John Avent was sentenced for the murder of a 10-year-old boy with a tomahawk.

Meanwhile, Fairfax newspapers say three people have claimed a share of the $1 million reward offered by the Victorian government for information leading to the conviction of Ms Halvagis' killer. They are disbarred lawyer Andrew Fraser, a former cell-mate of Dupas at Port Phillip Prison; and witnesses Laima Burman and Angela Baran. Dupas mimed the killing and made several incriminating statements to Fraser, who shared a cell with Dupas while serving five years jail for cocaine offences.

Ms Burman and Ms Baran both placed Dupas at the cemetery on the day of the murder. The three are the first people to apply for a $1 million reward in Victoria. The reward has been offered in seven murder cases and for the capture of Melbourne drug tsar Tony Mokbel. The applications will be considered by Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon.

Dupas handed third life jail term

It was then reported by NineMSN that Peter Dupas was denounced as an evil, psychopathic predator as a judge handed him a third life sentence with no chance of parole. As sentence was passed for the stabbing murder of 25-year-old Mersina Halvagis almost a decade ago, Dupas remained poker-faced, just as he had throughout his trial. Dupas attacked Ms Halvagis as she tended her grandmother's grave at Melbourne's Fawkner Cemetery in November 1997. He is already serving two life terms with no parole for the mutilation murders of Nicole Patterson in April 1999 and Margaret Maher in October 1997.

Justice Philip Cummins said Ms Halvagis's last actions were typical of a young woman devoted to others, in contrast to Dupas. "Just as Ms Halvagis's presence at the cemetery was typical of her goodness, your presence at the cemetery was typical of your evil: cunning, predatory and homicidal," Justice Cummins told Dupas. "You do not suffer from any mental illness. Rather, you are a psychopath driven by a hatred of women. "I refuse to set any minimum term. "Life means life."

Justice Cummins paid tribute to the Halvagis family, thanking them for their dignity. "You are a fine family," he told them. "Through these 10 years, you have shown courage and love and loyalty to Mersina. "You have never wavered." Outside the court, Mersina Halvagis's father George, mother Christina, brothers Bill and Nick and sister Dimitria said they hoped to move on with their lives, but they would always have her in their hearts. "I just want to say one message - I want that animal to always have nightmares for me because I will never give up," George Halvagis told reporters. "I want him never to go to sleep and think that he is OK, he will never be OK."

Bill Halvagis said he did not think Dupas got what he deserved. "My sister is no longer living and he gets to live out his life," he said. During the trial, Mersina Halvagis's fiance, Angelo Gorgievski, was quizzed by Dupas's legal team, who suggested he could have been involved in her death. "Mersina we all love and will never forget," Mr Gorgievski told reporters. "Our soul is with Mersina, that is what we are here for."

While in Port Philip Prison, Dupas spoke with former solicitor and drug smuggler, Andrew Fraser, about DNA from a glove at the scene of Ms Maher's murder and then added he left no forensic evidence at Fawkner cemetery. Fraser, who has applied for a slice of a $1 million reward, testified against Dupas, recalling his comment about forensics, and reenacting a macabre pantomime that Dupas did to show how he killed Ms Halvagis. "You left the body of Ms Halvagis slumped dead on gravesite M36, three sites from that of her grandmother," Justice Cummins said. "Then, with your bloody knife, you vanished from the scene. "But it was your cunning that was to bring you undone. "For you left no forensics at Fawkner - words which would come back to haunt you."

At the beginning of the trial, Dupas' lawyers unsuccessfully applied for a permanent stay of proceedings, partly on the grounds he was already serving two life sentences. Dupas is also a suspect in the murders of Helen McMahon in Rye in 1985, Renita Brunton in Sunbury in 1993 and Kathleen Downes in Brunswick in 1997. On Monday, Justice Cummins urged parliament to change the Sentencing Act, to specifically state a purpose of punishments is to vindicate the rights of victims. "There should be a fairer balance between the rights of offenders and the rights of victims," he said. "Ms Halvagis matters. Every victim matters."

Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls said the government had already made legislative changes to reflect the needs of victims but he would consider the judge's remarks.

Source: 27 August 2007 NineMSN “Dupas handed third life jail term”

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