New laws to deny Hoddle St killer Julian Knight any chance of parole

UPDATE: JULIAN Knight will be locked up until he dies under new laws praised by victims and police, but criticised by rights advocates and a prominent criminal lawyer.

HODDLE St mass killer Julian Knight is to be condemned by dramatic new laws to stay locked up until he is either on his deathbed or is so infirm he is harmless.

The move has been welcomed by victims groups, senior police and those first at the horrific scene, but criticised as going too far by rights advocates and prominent criminal lawyer Rob Stary.

Legislation drafted especially for Knight, to be introduced in Parliament today, will make it almost impossible for him ever to get parole.

The legislation will severely restrict the circumstances in which the Adult Parole Board can free the murderer of seven.

Under the law, which will apply solely to Knight, he will be eligible for parole only if he is “in imminent danger of dying or is seriously incapacitated” and as a result “no longer has the physical ability to harm any person”.

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Even then he would still have to demonstrate to the Adult Parole Board “that he does not pose a risk to the community”.

Knight has been in prison since gunning down 26 people, killing seven of them, in a horrifying shooting spree in Clifton Hill back in August 1987.

The special law is intended to come into effect by May, when Knight, 45, becomes eligible for parole after serving a 27-year minimum non-parole term on a life sentence.

Premier Denis Napthine said the Adult Parole Board had already said Knight would not be released in the foreseeable ­future.

“Our sweeping changes to Victoria’s parole system, making it the toughest in Australia, mean it’s difficult to see him ever being granted parole,” he said. Dr Napthine said the Government was determined to keep the public safe.

“The families of Knight’s victims, the injured, even the emergency services personnel who responded that awful night in Hoddle St, understandably still bear the scars as if it had happened yesterday,” he said.

“They deserve, and we owe them, this certainty.”

Former police officer Donna Wood, who attended the horrific Hoddle St scene during Knight’s shooting spree, commended the government for having the “fortitude” to keep the mass murderer behind bars.

And Crime Victims Support Association’s Noel McNamara said the legislation would bring “a great sense of relief” for Knight’s victims.

“They’ve got a life sentence from what happened that night, and now so does he,” he said.

“He’s got his just desserts.”

Police Chief Commissioner at the time of the shooting, Kel Glare, also welcomed the laws.

“My vivid memory is of a young woman sitting in a car with the door hanging open, half her face missing and the street light glinting off the diamond on her engagement ring, and that young woman had a baby,” he told Radio 3AW.

“There was another chap still seated at the wheel of his car, hands gripping the wheel, and shot stone dead.”

But Melbourne criminal defence lawyer Robert Stary said the government had overstepped its bounds in creating the legislation.

“We have an independent judiciary, we have an independent parole board and we should not allow government to interfere with that process,” he told the station.

Liberty Victoria also criticised the move as a political one that could be challenged.

Executive officer Gillian Garner said the new laws were a case of “pre-empting any proper consideration of his case by the Adult Parole Board – the executive body tasked with that very function”.

Ms Garner labelled the move as “short-term political posturing” which set a dangerous precedent, risked an expensive legal challenge, all while it was unlikely Knight would win parole as a “troublesome, extremely difficult prisoner”.

She said instead the government should ensure the board got adequate resources to do its job.

But today, Dr Napthine was unapologetic about the legislation.

“All Victorians will welcome this legislation,” he told 3AW.

“This person simply should not be afforded the possibility of parole.

“(This law is) specifically for Julian Knight, and we make no apologies for that.

Dr Napthine did not entertain the notion that this law could pave the way for similar legislation being passed for other serious prisoners.

“I don’t think anybody is in the league of Julian Knight, in terms of the number of murders, the number of serious injuries and his subsequent behaviour which has shown no remorse, no change in attitude towards our fellow man,” he said.

“This is a specific case that warrants strong, specific attention.

“Julian Knight will rot in jail.”

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Also, in a move recommended by last year’s Callinan Review into the parole system in the wake of Jill Meagher’s murder, Knight would have to apply to the Adult Parole Board to be considered for release — a changelikely to be rolled out for otheroffenders.

Former police officer Peter Butts, who helped save people wounded by Knight in Hoddle St, supported the government’s move.

“This would be a great win for the community if the legislation gets up,” Mr Butts said.

Mr Butts and colleague Sen-Sgt Tim Edgeworth took extraordinary risks in saving people severely wounded by Knight.

The pair, not wearing protective vests, evaded gunfire and grabbed the overcoats of officers to shield an injured Gina Papaioannou from the cold.

Ms Papaioannou succumbed to her injuries 11 days later.

Mr Butts left the force in 1996 and is now a private investigator.

Ms Wood, also attended the horrific Hoddle St scene during Knight’s shooting spree..

“I am so excited to hear this news,” she said.

“I live in a town where there’s a prison, and the thought of him even coming to the town where I am makes me uncomfortable.

“I want to congratulate the government for making a stand. I’m so pleased they’re thinking about all Victorians and all Australians.”

Ms Wood said memories of the night still haunted her.

“It never leaves you,” she said.

Corrections Minister Edward O’Donohue said Knight had shown no remorse and was still one of the worst inmates in the prison system.

“He is still in maximum ­security,” he said. “He has been a difficult prisoner, and he is classified a vexatious litigant.

“Just last month he’s alleged to have committed another horrific assault on a prisoner.”

If passed, the new law would be only the second such piece of legislation enacted by Parliament to keep an individual in jail.

It is almost certain to be challenged in court by Knight.

In a recent letter to the Herald Sun, the mass murderer vowed to fight any move to keep him inside, claiming he had been assessedas being at a low risk of reoffending ­violently.

“Are the State Government and the Adult Parole Board, by not arguing against the release of any other murderer, claiming that I am the only murderer whose risk of reoffending is unacceptable?” he wrote.

- with Samantha Landy

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