Hoddle Street killer Julian Knight loses High Court fight against laws keeping him in jail
by Elizabeth Byrne, ABC, Thu 17 Aug 2017
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-17/julian-knight-hoddle-street-killer-loses-high-court-fight/8815834
Hoddle Street killer Julian Knight, one of Australia’s most notorious mass murderers, has lost a last-ditch High Court fight to overturn laws specifically designed to keep him in prison indefinitely.
Knight killed seven people in Melbourne’s Hoddle Street in a shooting spree in 1987, injuring 19 others. He was later sentenced to life in prison, with a 27-year non-parole period.
Just before the period expired in 2014, the Victorian Government introduced laws naming Knight, and preventing him from seeking parole unless he was seriously incapacitated or in imminent danger of dying.
But Knight challenged the laws, arguing they interfered with the independence of the court which imposed the non-parole period.
The High Court today found the laws keeping Knight in jail did not interfere with the sentence imposed by Victoria’s Supreme Court, as the decision on parole fell outside the court’s powers.
“Whether or not Mr Knight would be released on parole at the expiration of the minimum term was simply outside the scope of the exercise of judicial power constituted by imposition of the sentences,” the court found.
When the laws were introduced in 2014, Victoria’s then-premier Denis Napthine said Knight “deserved to rot in jail”.
Knight recently wrote an open letter of apology to his victims, the police and the public, in which he described his crimes as “despicable, cowardly and senseless”.
“Thirty years have passed since the Hoddle Street shootings and I am far from the immature, disturbed and desperate teenager who committed them. If I had been granted parole back in 2014 I would have very quickly faded into obscurity.”
Hoddle Street murder Julian Knight closer to suing Commonwealth over Duntroon military college treatment
By Elizabeth Byrne, Mon 9 Feb 2015, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-09/hoddle-street-killer-julian-knight-closer-to-suing/6081140
Melbourne’s Hoddle Street killer Julian Knight is a step closer in his bid to sue the Commonwealth over his treatment as a military cadet in Canberra in the 1980s, after a ruling in the ACT Supreme Court.
Knight killed seven people and injured 19 others during the Hoddle Street massacre in Melbourne in 1987, and is now serving seven consecutive life sentences in prison.
He claimed before the shooting he had been the subject of attacks from other cadets at the Royal Military College, Duntroon and was now seeking damages from the Commonwealth.
So far the case has been bogged in procedural applications, but the court has set May 4 for a hearing into whether Knight should be allowed to make his claim out of time.
The court has also ordered that the ACT Bar Association be asked to help find a pro bono lawyer to assist Knight set up his case.
Master David Mossop told the court he was concerned that Knight, who has so far represented himself, had not been able to set out his case in a form suitable to be argued in court.
Mr Mossop said it was not clear if his claim was limited to the alleged assaults or extended to economic loss because he lost his position.
He urged Knight not to delay obtaining legal help to set out his case.
In separate action Knight is pursuing criminal compensation over the alleged assaults in the ACT Magistrates Court.
A hearing into that matter has been set down for March 10.
Hoddle Street killer Julian Knight wins right to learn addresses for potential assault claim
By Elizabeth Byrne, Wed 26 Nov 2014, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-26/hoddle-street-killer-wins-right-to-learn-addresses/5918908
Hoddle Street killer Julian Knight has won the right to learn the addresses of two people he wants to include in a possible assault claim.
Convicted mass killer Julian Knight has won a court application to secure the addresses of two people he wants to include in a possible claim over an alleged assault by two fellow Duntroon cadets in 1987.
Knight is in jail for killing seven people and injuring 19 others, during the Hoddle Street shooting spree in Melbourne later in the same year.
The Court has refused applications for the addresses of other people Knight was also hoping to serve with legal documents.
The order is part of preliminary moves only, with the court yet to agree to consider the case.
Knight, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Victoria, was eligible for parole in May this year but kept in jail by legislation rushed through the Victorian Parliament.
Knight was a cadet at the Royal Military College Duntroon before the massacre and has been attempting to sue the ACT and Commonwealth Governments over three alleged assaults on him by fellow cadets.
If he were moved to Canberra, he would again be eligible to apply for parole.