Rape-charge vampire shot dead in frontyard ambush
June 4 2003
A self-proclaimed vampire on trial for rape was ambushed by two men and shot dead as he left his home in Melbourne's north this morning.
Male prostitute Shane Chartres-Abbott, 28, was part-way through a trial in the Victorian County Court on charges he raped and attacked a client after allegedly telling her he was a vampire who drank blood in order to survive.
Chartres-Abbott was shot dead as he left his house in Howard Street, Reservoir, with his girlfriend and an elderly man about 8.45am (AEST) this morning.
A spokeswoman for the County Court said the trial had been aborted and the jury discharged because of Chartres-Abbott's murder.
The court heard last week Chartres-Abbott's female victim was found unconscious, bloodied and naked in the shower of a hotel room with part of her tongue ripped out and teethmarks on her thigh.
His defence solicitor told the court Chartres-Abbott was being groomed for a role in a "snuff movie" in which he would have been killed.
*Edited to include a pic of the 'vampire'