Police have charged a man over the alleged double rape of an elderly woman in her home in Melbourne’s south-western suburbs two years apart in the 1980s in a major breakthrough in the decades-old cold case investigation.
Detectives from the sexual crime squad executed a search warrant at a home in Hoppers Crossing on Friday morning, following a fresh appeal for information about the case less than two weeks ago.
Jessie Grace Lauder (left) with a relative.
Michael Martin, 69, from Hoppers Crossing, was arrested in Wyndham Vale shortly after and later charged with two counts of attempted aggravated rape, aggravated burglary, aggravated indecent assault, rape, burglary and common assault.
He appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court shortly before 6pm on Friday, but the filing hearing and bail application was adjourned until Tuesday.
Martin has been remanded and will remain in custody until at least then.
Martin’s lawyer said his client needed to be tended to by a custody nurse, as he had a range of medical issues, including type 2 diabetes, was in remission for cancer and had been diagnosed with a separate neck tumour.
He also takes medication for a prostate illness, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.
Footage of the arrest released by police shows detectives leading the handcuffed man out of a two-storey brick home and into a waiting car. Custody officers are then seen escorting the man, dressed in jeans, a black top and Birkenstock-style sandals, into a building.
The arrest comes after a nearly 44-year investigation into the two alleged sexual assaults, which police say occurred at the same residential property on Mason Street, in Newport, between September 1981 and July 1983.
Police say on September 22, 1981, grandmother Jessie Grace Lauder was in bed when a man forced entry into the property through the rear door of the house about 10pm.
Lauder had been recently widowed and was living at the Newport home by herself at the time of the attacks.
The man allegedly entered her bedroom armed with a knife and demanded some money before forcing the 82-year-old to walk into another room, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
Police allege the man rummaged through Lauder’s purse looking for cash before leaving the property and climbing over a back fence into a vacant block on Oxford Street.
Less than two years later, on July 6, 1983, Lauder was in the lounge room getting ready for bed when it’s alleged the same man forced entry into the home through the front door at 9pm.
It is alleged he forced Launder into the kitchen, in what police suspect was an attempt to check that no one else was at the house, before taking her back to the lounge room and sexually assaulting her again.
During the alleged assault, the man, who police say was wearing gloves and covering his face to conceal his identity, mentioned the assault two years earlier and warned Launder against calling the police.
He did not use a weapon in the alleged attack but detectives in 2016 said the man had placed a newspaper over Lauder’s head as he left.
At the time, the man was described as aged between 20 and 30, having a fair complexion, dark hair, and an Australian accent. Police say he was about 175 centimetres tall and wore work boots and a beanie on both occasions.
Lauder, who was recently widowed at the time of the attacks, had lived at the property for 55 years. She died in 1993.
Detective Inspector Mark Burnett, from the sexual crime squad, said the breakthrough was a momentous day for Lauder’s family, who had spent almost four decades fighting for justice.
“By all accounts, she was a wonderful and exceptionally stoic woman, and I truly hope today’s arrest brings Jessie’s family a sense of relief and some form of closure at last. Our thoughts are with them today,” Burnett said.
Burnett described the investigation as complex, protracted and, at times, difficult, but he said the persistence and dedication of investigators had been unwavering.
Police initially announced a $500,000 reward for information into the attacks in 2016 after changes to DNA testing allowed the police to rule out three suspects in the case.
Last Tuesday, detectives from the sexual crime squad and Lauder’s grandson, Malcolm Lauder, made a renewed appeal for public information after investigators uncovered evidence to suggest the attacker lived in the same neighbourhood as the grandmother.
“It might have been almost 44 years, but Victoria Police does not give up on the hope of securing justice for victims,” he said.
“If you have experienced sexual violence or abuse, even decades ago, police will listen, and we will investigate.”
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