Serial killer Peter Dupas has lost bid to prevent a TV drama series that features a character based upon him from being broadcast.
Dupas is serving three life sentences for murder. He has appealed, for the second time, against his conviction for the killing of Mersina Halvagis.
Ms Halvagis, 25, was stabbed multiple times at Fawkner cemetery on November 1, 1997 as she tended to her grandmother’s grave.
Dupas was found guilty after a retrial last year. His first conviction for the crime dates back to 2007.
In a writ lodged in the Supreme Court last week, Dupas’ lawyer wanted two episodes from the Channel Seven drama series Killing Time to be banned from broadcast.
The first episode of Killing Time aired on Seven last Sunday, and is based on the life of Andrew Fraser, the disgraced lawyer sentenced to jail in 2001 for drug offences.
Dupas’ lawyer claims that two episodes of the series in which Dupas is portrayed will damage a retrial, if the serial killer’s latest appeal in the Halvagis case is successful.
But Justice Emilios Kyrou refused to grant an order banning the episodes from being shown, saying if Dupas was granted a retrial it would be unlikely to take place until well into next year.
He is already serving two life sentences for the murder in 1999 of Nicole Patterson and the 1997 stabbing of 40-year-old Margaret Maher.
Long-time friend of the Dupas family and head of the Victims of Crime Support Association, Noel McNamara told reporters that Dupas’ latest court application was “a waste of taxpayers’ money.”
“I don’t know why the courts put up with him. He’s a convicted triple murderer who’s probably done others,” Mr McNamara said.
“Now he’s trying to stop people watching a television show that might be mean about him.
“Well, tough. He should have thought about that before killing those women.”
George Halvagis told the Herald Sun this week he did not know about the show or Dupas’ application, but he was disappointed his daughter’s killer continued to use the court system.
“He seems to have all the rights. He seems to be able to say whatever he wants,” Mr Halvagis said.