Mr Stinky pleads guilty to terrifying series of rapes across Melbourne
Young mums home alone with their children were victims of the vile rapist Raymond “Mr Stinky” Edmunds, who crept into homes across Melbourne’s east in a terrifying string of attacks. Now he will die behind bars.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Terrifying details have emerged decades on of attacks on eight women and a 14-year-old girl in their homes by notorious killer rapist Raymond ‘Mr Stinky’ Edmunds.
The 75-year-old, who is serving two life sentences without parole for the 1966 murders of two teenagers in Shepparton, faced the County Court today for a pre-sentence hearing over a series of brutal rapes and assaults between 1971 and 1984.
He finally confessed to the unsolved crimes last year, to give himself and his victims “peace of mind”.
Edmunds terrorised women in their own homes across the Melbourne suburbs of Wheelers Hill, Edithvale, Greensborough, Donvale and Clayton.
His vile crime spree occurred before he was arrested in 1985 over the murders of Abina Madill, 16, and Garry Heywood, 18.
He has been in custody ever since — and will never be released.
The court heard Edmunds would often be armed with a knife and have a stocking or mask over his head, as he preyed on young mothers who were home alone with their children.
“I’ve got a knife,” he told one of his victims, a 37-year-old pregnant woman after breaking into her Wheelers Hill home in October 1976.
After raping her, he rubbed her stomach and told her she was beautiful — all while her two young children, aged 3 and 6, slept nearby.
In March 1977, Edmunds told another victim, a mother of two, 31, when she woke to find him in her bedroom: “I just want to make love to you. I’ve been watching you for two weeks.”
He then pulled a knife out and said “Think about your children”, telling her he knew she had a son in one room and a daughter in another of the house.
Another of his victims was just 14.
She has no memory of the 1977 attack, only that she woke to a man in her room, and then the next thing she was in hospital with lacerations to her face and stitches to her head.
She was home alone with her sister, 11, after their parents had gone out.
RELATED
HOW POLICE FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH MR STINKY
RUSSELL ST BOMBER TO SEE OUT ‘DE FACTO DEATH SENTENCE’
In August 1972, a 23-year-old woman was injured as she tried to fight him off when he broke into her Donvale home to rape her. He put a pillow over her face, before wrapping his hands around her neck to strangle her. It was only that her mother came home that he was disturbed and fled.
Edmunds, who was dubbed Mr Stinky after his victims said he had a strong body odour, was only connected to the shocking unsolved crimes after he contacted police from his jail cell last year.
The sex fiend pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including four counts of rape, three counts of indecent assault, false imprisonment and two counts of assault causing bodily harm.
His barrister Peter Chadwick QC could not give any explanation for Edmunds behaviour.
But explaining why he gave himself up to police, he said: “It was for a sense of bringing peace, peace of mind, to both himself and the victims.
“This is part of cleaning up what he has in the background.”
He said his client was in good health but had accepted he would die in prison.
Judge Susan Pullen said his crimes would have been “pretty scary” and “absolutely terrifying” for his vulnerable victims.
She will hand down her sentence later this month, but noted: “He was always going to die in jail. Whatever sentence I impose ... he’s still going to die in jail.”