On this webpage, we seek to conclude this chapter in Julian Knight’s culminating experience at Duntroon in terms of what, in the end, happened concerning the climax of the bastardisation – his stabbing retaliation against REED.

The many violent physical attacks that had been relentlessly meted out by Kokoda senior cadets lead in a personal hate campaign by Kokoda 1st Class senior cadet Company Sergeant Major (CSM) Philip John REED (23) targeting 3rd Class cadet KNIGHT (19).
REED’s gang of abusive by senior cadets in Kokoda Company had delegated impunity from Duntroon Brass (BLAKE/EARLE/VERCOE) and its blessed bastardisation culture to behave criminally against KNIGHT. They were never punished for the abuse they inflicted upon KNIGHT – neither REED’s Kokoda Company gang of his senior cadet weed-out abusers, nor their superiors, Duntroon Brass.
Yet, Knight’s final physical retribution against his lead tormentor, REED, by KNIGHT’s desperate stabbing in reaction to imminent fear of being gang bashed when trying to exist the Private Bin nightclub, would see the Duntroon Brass ultimately condemn KNIGHT. They bullies could dish out their bastardisation, but they couldn’t take the retaliation.
Knight was perhaps the first to ever retaliate in such a way in Duntroon’s history of its bastardisation culture toward junior cadets since way back in 1911 pre-WWI.
Of course the conflict climax of KNIGHT’s stabbing of REED would prove pivotal in dashing KNIGHT’s personal career hopes with the Australian Army.
Duntroon Brass held all the cards. And this absolute power would prove to corrupt absolutely – influencing Australia’s legislature, executive right up to the highest powers in the Australian government at Victorian/ACT and federal levels, as well as the judiciary – the High Court, back in Canberra again.
School boy bully types think they can dish out their hate, but history shows they can’t take their own medicine.
The following eleven pages comprise the final batch of photocopied documents pertaining to Knight’s schedule criminal hearing schedule for 10th November 1987 concerning his stabbing case in Canberra, but most notably subsequent to his Hoddle Street shooting spree. Clearly the criminal hearing was set to change, and ultimately it was formally abandoned by the DPP in 1995.
Enclosed eight Police records:
In the lead up to the Criminal Case ‘Police V KNIGHT’ (CC87/3792) set for 10th November 1987 in the Magistrates Court of the Australian Capital Territory, following KNIGHT’s subsequent Hoddle Street shooting spree on 9th August 1987, the case preparation correspondence notably adjusts and changes.
These pages present eight separate documents and again they were obtained through Freedom of Information from the Magistrates Court of Australian Capital Territory long after 1987, and we estimate probably around 13th May 2014. These are dated between 9th August 1987 (KNIGHT’s Hoddle Street shooting spree) and KNIGHT’s scheduled ACT Magistrate’s Court hearing set for 10th November 1987; plus one concluding record.
For clarity, we first list the eight documents by description in order thus, so that readers can comprehend what each is about before reading each. This is because they are legal exchanges of correspondence by legal bodies about the administrative issues. Yet understanding them serves to provide further insight as to what happened as the backstory, in this case, AFTER Hoddle Street:
- 12 August 1987: KNIGHT’s lawyers’ (Crowley and Chamberlain) letter to the Magistrates Court of the ACT, notifying of the firm’s decision to cancel representing Knight as Defendant in this case. A copy was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (Canberra), which was representing the Australian Federal Police in this criminal matter. (3 pages)
- 14 August 1987: AFP First Constable Shane AUSTIN who first interviewed KNIGHT on 31 May 1987 same day as the stabbing incident, then following KNIGHT’s Hoddle Street mass shootings, biasedly recommends in writing to the AFP Commander of its Criminal Investigation Branch addition charges against Knight (2 pages)
- 28 August 1987: AFP letter to DPP notifying AFP’s intent to proceed with the hearing case of POLICE V KNIGHT set for 10th November 1987 in the Magistrates Court the ACT, despite the included observation “..it is unlikely the defendant will be present as he is currently in custody in Victoria charged with murder” (1 page)
- 29 August 1987: AFP First Constable M. I Saarikko internal minute paper to AFP Commander recommending that the previously agreed three charges against KNIGHT “should proceed as is“, rejecting the Informant (AFP’s Shane Daniel Austin) subsequently requesting the charges be upgraded to “Wounding with intent to do Grievous Bodily Harm” This post dates Hoddle Street, and so is biased. ( 2 pages)
- 31 August 1987: AFP Acting Senior Sergeant John Derham? (signature not legible) internal memo to Acting Inspector Sander that the charges also remain as they are, and despite realising that KNIGHT wont be returning to the ACT, that AFP issue a warrant in the ACT for KNIGHT’s arrest (1 page)
- 10 November 1987: On the day of the case, Knight does not appear in the ACT magistrates court, so in breach of his bail surety, so same day DPP Deputy Director R. Bermingham orders a warrant for KNIGHT’s arrest (1 page)
- 10 November 1987: AFP Warrant for KNIGHT’s arrest (1 page)
- 16 Feb 1995: (More than 26 years later, when KNIGHT is due for parole, KNIGHT obtained a copy of the AFP’s record issued dating back to from 1995 that the ACT Magistrates Court had dismissed each of the eventual criminal charges against KNIGHT for the stabbing offence back on 31 May 1987. (Note: “N.E.T.O.” is an accepted legal abbreviation for ‘No Evidence To Offer’. It suggests that the AFP had abandoned the case and so after 7 years had lapsed, the charges had legally expired and consequently the court dismissed the case). (1 page)
Copies of those actual records:
(1) 12 August 1987: KNIGHT’s lawyers’ (Crowley and Chamberlain) letter to the Magistrates Court of the ACT
(2) 14 August 1987: AFP First Constable Shane AUSTIN recommends addition charges against Knight
(3) 28 August 1987: AFP’s intention to proceed with the hearing case of POLICE V KNIGHT
(4) 29 August 1987: AFP First Constable M. I Saarikko rejects AFP’s Shane Daniel Austin’s request
(5) 31 August 1987: AFP Acting Senior Sergeant John Derham agrees that the charges also remain as they are, and to issue a warrant in the ACT for KNIGHT’s arrest
(6) 10 November 1987: DPP Deputy Director R. Bermingham orders a warrant for KNIGHT’s arrest
(7) 10 November 1987: AFP Warrant for KNIGHT’s arrest
(8) 16 Feb 1995: AFP’s record of ACT Magistrates Court dismissing all charges N.E.T.O
GoTo: >Post Stabbing Analysis