AFTER managing to stick to the straight and narrow following his release from jail, North East man Brodie James Knott returned to drug use and has found himself back in custody for multiple armed robberies.
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The 29-year-old, who grew up in Benalla, appeared to be doing all the right things after being released on parole.
He had served a sentence for a string of charges, including recklessly causing serious injury, burglary, theft, and reckless conduct endangering serious injury.
Knott went to live with one of his sisters in Wangaratta while on parole and found employment.
He worked for nine months, with County Court judge Liz Gaynor noting he “achieved all the goals it appears (he) had set (himself) in jail”.
But he began to struggle with long work hours and verbal abuse from his boss, and coped by turning to gambling before relapsing into drug use.
Knott was evicted from his home and moved down to Melbourne, where he went on a spree of armed robberies, thefts and break-ins.
Between June 10 and 16 last year, Knott targeted five businesses while armed with weapons, including knives and a jemmy bar, often with his face covered by a black mask or balaclava.
He first stole $4000 worth of cigarettes and $400 or $500 cash from two employees at a Dandenong South cafe while armed with a knife and hammer.
Other offences targeted a sex store, snack bar, fishing business, and an incident at a grocery store where he ripped out a cash till and fled while wearing a balaclava.
A teenage Woolworths worker was also targeted while Knott was armed with a knife and balaclava.
His crime spree came to an end after a foot chase at Frankston on June 25, with a search of a car and home finding weapons and homemade balaclavas.
Knott took police to the scene of some of the crimes and told them he had a drug and gambling habit.
Justice Gaynor said the former Benalla Primary School student had used marijuana at about age 12 before moving to speed, ecstasy and ice.
His ice use continued in jail, which included a significant stint in solitary confinement. .
“At the end of the day, because of your inability to deal with the problems that arose in your life, other than to turn to gambling and drugs and then criminal means to obtain the money to support those, five people have been traumatised,” she said of the victims.
Knott was jailed for at least three-and-a-half years.
