Russell Street bomber one of two men charged over gang rape cold cases
A Russell Street bomber is one of two men charged over the abduction and gang rape of women in separate attacks more than 30 years ago.
Police announced on Thursday that they had made the stunning breakthrough on two rape cold cases, including the brutal sexual assault of an 18-year-old schoolgirl who was snatched from Chapel Street by masked men in South Yarra in 1985.
Investigators believe the rape is linked to a second attack on a 19-year-old woman in Nunawading a year later. Police made a fresh call for information a month ago, offering a $350,000 reward.
In 1986, a car bomb exploded outside the former police headquarters on Russell Street, killing 21-year-old policewoman Angela Taylor. Three men were convicted over the crime.
Police said they had charged a 56-year-old man being held in corrections custody in Barwon Prison with 38 offences, including abduction by force and aggravated rape. He cannot be named for legal reasons.
A second 61-year-old man was arrested by police in Kalorama, east of Melbourne, and charged with the same offences. He will face court on Thursday evening.
Detective Inspector Steve Wilson from the Sexual Crimes Squad thanked the public for its assistance and acknowledged the victims of the attacks, as well as their families.
"Waiting for over 30 years for this to occur is something quite significant for them," he said.
"I'm quite sure they would have never expected us to be knocking on their door and informing them of what this outcome is."
Police reiterated that they are still seeking a third man over the attacks.
The first of the alleged rapes took place at 10pm on November 22, 1985. An 18-year-old schoolgirl was walking down Chapel Street selling flowers when she was approached by a man who threatened her and pulled her towards a car with another man inside on Bray Street.
The teenager was bound, gagged and blindfolded, then driven to an unknown property, and sexually assaulted for hours.
She was then dumped on Yarra Boulevard in Richmond around 1am on Saturday, November 23.
The second attack took place months later in Nunawading at about 9.30pm on March 26, 1986. A 19-year-old woman was walking along the footpath on Ashwood Drive.
The woman, given the alias Debbie by police, was walking to her boyfriend's parents' house when she was dragged off the street, thrown in a car, bound and gagged and taken to an unknown property where she was raped before being dumped under a parked car at Ringwood.
The man currently in prison will face Melbourne Magistrates' Court on June 14.