A Victorian mass killer who alleges he was injured during bastardisation at Duntroon could take his fight for compensation as a crime victim the ACT Supreme Court.
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Julian Knight had originally filed papers for a criminal injury claim in the ACT Magistrates Court.
But during a mention on Tuesday, Knight told the court he had refiled the application in the ACT Supreme Court.
Knight said receipt of the application had not yet been confirmed, but foreshadowed abandoning the Magistrates Court action once the higher court had accepted his fresh claim.
Julia Noble, acting on behalf of the ACT government solicitor, told the court her office had not yet been served with the papers. The matter was adjourned until next month.
Knight is serving a life sentence in a Victorian jail for a shooting rampage that killed seven people and injured 19 others in Melbourne in 1987.
Knight had been a junior staff cadet at Duntroon from January to July 1987, but resigned after he stabbed a fellow soldier in the head after a fight at a Canberra nightclub.
Magistrates Court documents said Knight had been injured as a result of violent crime at the hands of other cadets while he had been posted at Duntroon.
He alleges he suffered damaged tendons in his left wrist and bruising during an instance of bastardisation in March 1987.
He also claims he had his nose broken and received extensive bruising during the nightclub incident in May the same year.
“During my service at Duntroon I was subjected to various and constant acts of bastardisation by senior staff cadets,” an affidavit by Knight, attached to the application, said.
“I was also physically injured on three occasions as a result of actions by various senior staff cadets.”
Papers filed in the Supreme Court reveal Knight has claimed damages for personal injury.
