Hoddle Street mass murderer Julian Knight fails in military compensation bid

JULIAN Knight claimed assaults at the Royal Military College when he was a cadet fuelled his Hoddle Street massacre in 1987 — and he wanted compensation.

Julian Knight, 19, was just 19 when he shot dead seven people and wounded 19 in Hoddle Street, Clifton Hill. Picture: Michael Potter

HODDLE Street mass murderer Julian Knight has lost a legal fight for compensation over alleged assaults in the military.

Knight, who murdered seven people and injured 19 in a shooting rampage in Melbourne in 1987, challenged the Commonwealth over a decision that denied him payment over alleged assaults while he was a cadet at The Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra.

Federal Court Justice Mordy Bromberg dismissed Knight’s application in Melbourne on Thursday and also ordered him to pay the Commonwealth’s legal costs.

An initial bid was rejected by the Defence Department Abuse Tribunal last year but, in February, the Federal Court heard the decision was being reconsidered following an appeal lodged by Knight.

The mass murderer blamed his shooting rampage on the alleged abuse.

Knight was just 19 when he stood on the nature strip beside Hoddle Street, a busy arterial road in Clifton Hill, in Melbourne’s north and began firing at passing cars.

He became eligible for parole in 2014 but Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has said it is unlikely the mass killer will ever be released.