THE man responsible for the Hoddle Street massacre has failed in a bid to receive taxpayer compensation for a sexual assault he claims occurred in Wodonga.
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Julian Knight, now 49, killed seven people on Hoddle Street at Clifton Hill, Melbourne, during a shooting spree in August 1987.
He left 19 other victims seriously injured and received seven life sentences.
Knight has a history of taking court action and was declared a vexatious litigant in 2004, which means he needs special permission to take new legal action.
He has previously taken action against the cost of cigarettes in jail, his conditions in prison and sought money for injuries he claims to have suffered during a stint in the army.
He has started, or attempted to start, 50-plus legal proceedings in the past 20 years.
The mass murderer tried recently, without success, to get cash from the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal.
Knight, who is in a maximum security jail, alleges he was sexually abused by a woman on a bus in Wodonga when aged 13.
According to Knight, he was on a trip from Melbourne to Canberra with his younger siblings in 1981.
He was sitting next to a 23-year-old female school teacher.
The bus is said to have stopped in Wodonga for a lunch break and the other passengers got off.
Knight said the woman then asked if he wanted to have sex with him before performing sexual acts.
He said within a few weeks of the incident, he learnt she was charged with committing sex offences against minors and later read newspaper reports about her being convicted.
The recent royal commission into child sex abuse has “caused him to think more often upon the events”.
Supreme Court Judge Andrew Keogh noted he had given little evidence to corroborate what had occurred.
The judge noted the assault had also occurred 35 years ago and there was “no significant merit” to his application.
Wodonga man Bruce Kimball, who lost his son Ross to a fatal stabbing in Dean Street in 2002, had run the Support After Murder group until 18 months ago.
He said the courts should pay more attention to victims, rather than offenders.
“Bugger him,” he said of Knight.
“Let him rot in hell.
“You wouldn’t believe a word that came out of his mouth.
“I don't believe he's entitled to anything after the grief and misery he's caused.”
