Judge ends Hoddle St killer Julian Knight’s early parole hope
by NORRIE ROSS, HERALD-SUN, FEBRUARY 3, 2012,
HODDLE St killer Julian Knight has lost his latest Supreme Court legal battle which he hoped would pave the way for his parole in two years time.
Justice Robert Osborn refused Knight’s application for court permission to seek mandatory injunctions against the Adult Parole Board and the Department of Justice, forcing them to ready him for parole.
Knight has been declared a vexatious litigant and he needed court permission to launch the proceedings.
After the judgment was handed down Knight, speaking from the prisoner’s dock, said his prospects are bleak.
He said that he currently assists new arrivals when they are brought in to Port Phillip Prison.
“In 10 years time it appears I will still be doing that,” he said, before he was led away to the cells.
Knight was a teenager when he shot dead seven people and injured 19 others in a rampage in Hoddle St in 1987. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 27 years.
Justice Osborn said Knight is not eligible for parole until 2014 and a decision on whether he is freed will depend on his circumstances at that time.
The judge said the grant of parole is discretionary and the question of his eventual parole is being considered by the board, which is waiting to receive a report from forensic psychologist Prof James Ogloff.
“Proceedings issued in these circumstances would be vexatious in the sense that they would be of no utility at this point in time,” Justice Osborn said.
The judge said the right to seek an injunction against the Department of Justice was also doomed.
Knight still has a case in the Supreme Court where he is challenging his prisoner classification.