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A man accused of murdering a pregnant woman and beheading her partner in Melbourne’s south-east has repeatedly interrupted a court hearing, declaring his innocence and complaining money and a dog had been stolen from him.
Ross Judd is charged with having murdered 39-year-old Athena Georgopoulos and 50-year-old Andrew Gunn, whose bodies were found in their Mount Waverley unit on August 11 last year.
On Tuesday, Judd, of no fixed address, also lamented the legal process, telling a magistrate that the proceedings were taking too long and were deeply unfair to him.
Athena Georgopoulos was found dead in Mount Waverly last August.Credit: Facebook
He was arrested by officers at Westall train station in Clayton South, roughly six kilometres from the couple’s unit, about 1.40am on August 12, hours after their bodies were found by a neighbour and police. Gunn had been decapitated.
Judd was wearing blood-stained clothing and had two large dogs with him at the time he was arrested.
During a spate of outbursts at a brief hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday afternoon, he appeared to accuse Gunn of stealing his money and a dog, as he vented about the length of time the legal proceedings were taking.
“I think it’s very long. It’s taking way too long,” he told the court via video link.
“It’s too time-consuming, and it’s really, seriously, deeply unfair for me because I’m innocent. Like, he stole my dog, my money.”
Judd also complained he could not hear the proceedings properly and repeatedly asked the magistrate if he could speak to the court about his “situation”.
“Talk louder please,” Judd said at one point.
Magistrate Tim Schocker urged the alleged double murderer to seek advice from his lawyers.
“Mr Judd, speak to your legal representatives about that,” Schocker told him. “They’ll be able to arrange a conference with you relatively soon, I imagine.”
Georgopoulos and her partner, Andrew Gunn. The couple were expecting a baby.
But Judd continued to interject.
“I’ve already talked to the lawyer,” he said. “How long will the whole process take?”
Schocker responded: “These are questions that you need to ask your lawyers ... Speak to your legal representatives about those questions.”
Earlier, a lawyer for Judd sought to have the case adjourned until late March and told the court a psychiatric report to determine whether the accused was mentally impaired was being undertaken. The adjournment was not opposed by the prosecution.
Athena Georgopoulos, also known to friends as “Tina”, was five months pregnant with her first child when she was killed.
Her mother, Petty Georgopoulos, last year expressed heartbreak and disbelief that someone could have killed her daughter, describing her as her psixoula, a Greek word for sweetheart.
“My sweetheart, you left life so unfairly that I still can’t believe it,” she wrote on Facebook.
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“In the last few days, you were so happy. We dreamed together about the granddaughter you would bring to our lives, but suddenly, everything came crashing down one night when a killer took your life and the granddaughter that you would have brought us in four months. No matter how they’ve separated us, I will never stop loving you forever. Goodbye, my daughter, in the light of the angels.”
Neighbour Ben Scott-Sandvik found the couple dead after hearing raised voices and a fight break out in the unit.
“Nobody should have to come across what I saw down there,” he said at the time. “Nobody needs to live knowing that this sort of thing has happened to their family.”
Video footage of Judd’s arrest shows officers subduing and arresting the shoeless man, who was wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt soaked in blood on a train station platform.
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The prosecution previously asked the court for 20 more weeks to prepare a brief of evidence, noting there was a complex crime scene and the existence of significant DNA that needed to be processed by police.
At the time, investigators were still trying to establish the connection between those involved, but believed Judd was known to the couple and suspected it was a targeted attack.
Police were also investigating graffiti outside the unit with the words “betrayal” and “enough is enough”.
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