Killer still shows no remorse
HODDLE St killer Julian Knight shows no signs of remorse for killing seven people and injuring 19 others during a shooting massacre in Melbourne 30 years ago, says a detective who worked on the case.
“I don’t see genuine signs of remorse . . . he’s probably just as bad now as he was when he went in (to prison),” former homicide detective Graham Kent told 3AW on yesterday’s anniversary of the slaughter.
Knight was immature and excited, enjoying the opportunity to recall the event to detectives during his police interviews after he was arrested for the shooting rampage in Clifton Hill, Mr Kent said.
“He was looking forward to the opportunity to debrief and tell his story, essentially about what a good job he’d done.
“His motivation was to kill. He had a fantasy that he was living out, which was a fantasy to go into combat, be engaged in a theatre of war and to experience what it was like to kill people.”
Frontline cop Peter Butts described Hoddle St as a “war zone”. “It was basically a very chilling type of zone to drive into,” he said.
“This fella went out to kill people that he never knew, never had any grievances against, never had any contact with them . . . this is what made it very different than other (crimes),” Mr Butts added.
Knight has been in jail since the August 9, 1987 rampage and parliament has passed laws to prevent his release unless he is on his deathbed or too frail to harm others.