Serial killer victim’s father honoured after 10 years of helping victims of crime
The father of a woman brutally murdered by psychopath Peter Dupas as she lay flowers on her grandmother’s grave has been honoured for his work with victims of crime. And the grandfather says he will keep on helping until the day he dies.
Inner South
Don't miss out on the headlines from Inner South . Followed categories will be added to My News.
Hailing from the coastal city of Mytilene on the eastern edge of Greece, George Halvagis landed a job as a deck boy on a passenger ship at just 15 years old.
And as the vessel darted between continents for more than a year and a half, the ambitious teen felt a change of heart when the anchor let loose in Port Melbourne.
More than 14,500 kilometres away from his home town, he decided to make a change.
“I just walked off the boat … I didn’t tell anyone,” Mr Halvagis, now 81, told the Leader.
“I left everyone I knew behind. I knew I wanted to make a life for myself in Australia.”
Mr Halvagis hopped on train up to the state’s Wimmera region where he landed a job at a sheep station and quickly picked up the English tongue.
It wasn’t long before he was working between multiple farming jobs in Victoria and at sugar cane fields in Queensland.
He met wife Christina, owned a takeaway shop at Warracknabeal in the late ‘70s, and his four children were born — Nick, Dimitria, Mersina and Bill.
They moved into a five-bedroom, red-brick seaside property in Mentone where the proud parents watched their children grow into young adults.
But, in 1997, the everyday family’s life would be rocked by an unspeakable tragedy as second eldest sibling Mersina paid her usual visit to her grandmother’s grave in Melbourne’s north.
While laying flowers in tribute for her beloved family member on Saturday November 1, the 25-year-old university graduate — who was engaged to boyfriend Angelo Georgievski — was brutally murdered by serial killer Peter Dupas.
She was found with fatal stab wounds to her neck, chest and abdomen.
And, while the Halvagis family faced a long winding road of emotional torment as police searched for Mersina’s frenzied attacker, Mr Halvagis knew he again could make a change.
When a jury found Dupas guilty of Mersina’s murder in 2007, the heartbroken father became a face for victims of crime.
Mr Halvagis’s campaign for justice pressured MPs and police, brought in a $1 million reward and even changed laws so police could question inmates on other cases.
Between daily visits to his precious daughter’s floral garden bed at Cheltenham cemetery, the now-grandfather lectures members of the police academy in Glen Waverley about helping victims of crime.
He also makes twice-weekly visits to Melbourne’s courts where he consoles and offers assistance to more families who were torn apart like his.
And this week — after clocking 10 years’ service as an advocate for Crime Stoppers — Mr Halvagis will add yet another accolade to his mountain of awards, which sit opposite Mersina’s memorial in his living room.
“My Order of Australia Medal honour has come from my family … I am proud of my country,” he said.
“My aim is to make sure no one can feel my pain and that I protect the innocent from criminals.
“This award is thanks to my family … I can tell (victims) not to worry, because I know what it’s like.”
When Mr Halvagis is given the honour on Australia Day he will visit Mersina, who is survived by her two nieces Crystal, Angelina and nephew Ari.
She would be 47 this year.
MORE NEWS
NARRE WARREN MOSQUE OBJECTORS RAISE $50K
REAL ESTATE AGENT TO FIGHT ASSAULT CHARGES
DRIVER SLAMS COUNCIL’S ‘FLAWED’ TICKET SYSTEM
“I see Mersina in my grandchildren … she was so loveable and loved children,” Mr Halvagis said.
“I am getting slower but I never sit down and say I’ve had enough for the day … that’s what my daughter would have wanted me to do.
“If I can save one young lady’s life, I know my Mersina would have said ‘thank you daddy’.
“She was an angel, and now she’s an angel with wings.”
Mr Halvagis urged anyone with information relating to crime make the call to Crime Stoppers.
“Whatever information you may know, it could change someone’s life,” he said.
“Pick up the phone and speak up.”