May 3, 2017
A thief who bashed and robbed a man walking down a Kingaroy Street in November 2015 is now eligible for immediate parole after winning a court appeal.
Wade Stanley Knox, then 21, was arrested and charged in 2015 with a number of offences which occurred in Ipswich, Eagleby, Clayfield and Kingaroy.
The crimes included bashing a man on a train, robbing a Subway store, stealing a car, drive-offs from petrol stations and robbing the pedestrian in Kingaroy.
When arrested, Knox allegedly told police he knew he was going back to jail so he “might as well make it worth his while”.
Knox and a co-offender, Blake Andrew Lowe, were each sentenced to five years’ jail when they appeared in Hervey Bay District Court in November 2016.
The court was told both men were using ice during the crime spree.
Justice John Robertson said the men had behaved “like outlaws” and set a parole eligibility date in September 2017.
However, Knox appealed the length of his sentence.
The Appeal Court has now agreed, reducing Knox’s sentence to four years and making him eligible for immediate parole.
