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AAP
AAP
National
Emily Woods

Fake cop to be jailed for 'sadistic' rapes

A man is heading to jail after posing as an undercover cop to kidnap and rape two teenagers in 1987. (Mal Fairclough/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

For more than three decades, Theodoros Tsalkos avoided any punishment over his "sick, sadistic" kidnapping and rape of two teenage girls.

Posing as an undercover cop, he picked up the girls, aged 15 and 16, in St Kilda in 1987, held them captive and raped them in his car over four hours.

With the help of modern DNA testing, police renewed their investigation in 2019. Last year a jury found him guilty of kidnapping, rape in aggravating circumstances and gross indecency with a person under 16.

Tsalkos, now aged 61, faced a pre-sentence hearing in Melbourne's County Court on Tuesday, where his lawyer accepted he is facing a lengthy prison sentence.

"We've accepted that a term of imprisonment, that is a head sentence with a non-parole period, in these circumstances is warranted," defence barrister Sai Ranjit told the court.

The girls were working as sex workers when they got into Tsalkos' car. He claimed to be an undercover cop and threatened to arrest and charge them with prostitution if they did not do as he said, the court was told.

Tsalkos held them captive over four hours, driving them between St Kilda, Elwood and Balaclava, where he raped the two girls.

One of Tsalkos' victims died in 2013. His other victim said she tried to bury her trauma, which led her to abuse drugs and alcohol, but the court case had brought her emotions to the surface once again.

"You encouraged us to get into your car knowing full well that you were going to take advantage of the situation and our naivety, and rape us, and not let us go for at least four hours whilst you played your sick, sadistic game with us," she wrote in a statement read to court.

"We were devastated, shocked, scared and traumatised."

Prosecutor Andrew Grant said Tsalkos threatened to "stick a knife through and blow heads off" if the girls did not comply with him.

He said sex workers were entitled to protection from rape and posing as a cop had increased the seriousness of his offending.

Mr Grant said Tsalkos had not committed any crimes since 1987 and sentencing him as an older man meant prison would be more onerous.

Mr Ranjit asked Judge Rosemary Carlin to take into account his lack of offending over the past 30 years and said this showed he was no longer a threat to the community.

He described the crimes as "opportunistic" and denied Tsalkos was carrying a weapon in his car.

Judge Carlin will sentence Tsalkos at a later date.

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