Peter Dupas charged with murder of 95-year-old woman in 1997

Peter Dupas has been charged over the murder of a 95-year-old woman found dead in her nursing home bed.

Kathleen Downes, 95, was murdered at the Brunswick Lodge Aged Care Facility.

Peter Dupas has been charged with the murder of an elderly Melbourne woman found dead in her nursing home bed more than 21 years ago.

Kathleen Downes, 95, died of multiple stab wounds and a cut throat on the morning of ­December 31, 1997. In December 2000, police issued a $100,000 reward for information about the murder.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton yesterday said the arrest was made due to new information coming to light, but a reward had not been paid.

“We’ve been trying very hard to bring justice to the victims of that person,” Mr Ashton said.

“I wouldn’t speak for the ­family (of Downes) … but they can probably be ­assured Victoria Police, both in the cold-case ­context and the homicide squad, have worked very hard on this case.”

Downes was described by Victoria Police at the time of the killing as “a dear old lady with a wonderful nature, who was considered the matriarch of the nursing home”.

She was killed at the Brunswick Lodge Aged Care Facility in Melbourne’s inner north. She had three children, nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

It is believed Downes’s killer entered the nursing home through a window.

A stack of milk crates were found by the window and the flyscreen had been cut.

Mr Dupas was questioned over Downes’s murder in 2003. He will appear at the Supreme Court on March 14.