Overview
- The Melbourne Magistrates' Court hearing will determine whether the case advances to a Supreme Court jury trial after nearly five decades.
- Prosecutors told the court DNA profiles from preserved samples, including semen and blood, are up to 100 billion times more likely to include Kouroumblis than an unrelated person.
- The Crown says reanalysis since 2013, a 2018 tissue sample from a car he once owned, and a familial reference from his brother underpin the alleged match.
- The defence argues the decades-old samples are unreliable due to possible contamination and degradation, points to an alternate suspect identified in 1977, and foreshadows a bid to dismiss the rape charge.
- Witnesses including a neighbour who rescued an 18-month-old child, a man who had recently dated Armstrong, and a retired homicide detective have given evidence, with the hearing scheduled to continue into November.