Famous sportsman admits to bizarre act using chewing gum and sandpaper in toxic feud with his neighbour upstairs

Former Wallaby David Knox has admitted stealing a security camera and destroying a CCTV doorbell amid a long-running neighbourhood dispute in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Knox, who was part of Australia’s 1991 Rugby World Cup-winning squad, was charged late last year with larceny, intentionally destroying or damaging property and contravening a restraining order.

On Monday, the 62-year-old escaped conviction for the offences after successfully seeking to have all charges dealt with under mental health provisions of the law. 

Knox was capped 13 times for Australia between 1985 and 1997, playing in the halves alongside legends such as Nick Farr-Jones and George Gregan in a golden period for the Wallabies.

The fly-half also won eight first grade premierships with Randwick, retiring with a record 2,842 points for the Galloping Greens – the highest scorer in Australian club rugby. 

Knox showed some of his old evasive skills as he tried to dodge a photographer while arriving at Waverley Court, which is sitting temporarily in John Maddison Tower.

Ducking and weaving through obstacles, Knox could have been back taking on the might of the All Blacks as he sought cover wherever he could.

Knox’s court appearances followed a falling-out with neighbour Roderick Parker, who lives in the same Arden Street, Coogee, apartment block.

The two men are the building’s longest-established residents, with Knox purchasing his two-bedroom unit for $325,000 in 1997 and Parker paying $740,000 for his in 2013.

Knox lives on the bottom floor and Mr Parker on the top level with his family.

A series of alleged events in the six-unit block led to Mr Parker privately seeking an apprehended personal violence order to protect him from Knox last August.

Knox breached the interim AVO on the afternoon of November 3, barely two months after the order had been made at Waverley Local Court. 

According to a statement of facts tendered on Monday, the casual high school teacher went up to Mr Parker’s floor about 1.45pm and approached his rear door.

CCTV footage captured Knox covering a doorbell camera using chewing gum and cardboard, then climbing a ladder to reach another security camera and sensor light worth $200, which he stole.

When the cardboard fell off the doorbell camera Knox used sandpaper to attack the lens, completely destroying it. 

Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson said Knox had told a psychologist he was not proud of his bizarre behaviour and he accepted his actions were wrong.

She noted Knox had reported a history of grievances with Mr Parker which had continued for ‘quite a long period of time’.

‘There’s been a longstanding dispute,’ Ms Atkinson said. ‘His reaction was not appropriate.’

Knox had been diagnosed with moderate depression, anxiety and stress, as well as adjustment disorder.  

Ms Atkinson determined those impairments were enough to deal with the charges under Section 14 of the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act.

She dismissed all matters on condition Knox comply with a treatment plan devised by his GP, also recognising he had no similar matters on his criminal record.

Knox is described on the Classic Wallabies website as ‘the closest thing Australia had to Mark Ella after the great fly-half’s retirement’.

Young Knox attended Matraville High, the same school that produced Ella, his brothers Gary and Glen, fellow rugby international Lloyd Walker and Wallabies coach Eddie Jones.

‘Knox possessed superb ball and handling skills, and could dominate a game through his “bag of tricks”,’ the Classic Wallabies website states.

‘He was suitably enigmatic and while public opinion of him was divided there was little doubt he was a true genius of the game.’

Knox, who also played first grade cricket for Randwick, was noted for his game management and was an outstanding left-footed goal kicker.

Having been an exceptional schoolboy talent, Knox’s path to representative honours was initially blocked by Mark Ella and another generational fly-half, Michael Lynagh.

Knox’s first big break came when Ella suddenly quit rugby after the 1984 Grand Slam tour of the UK, opening a spot for him in the NSW side the following year.

When Lynagh, a Queenslander, was ruled out of the 1985 home series against Fiji due to a knee injury Knox made his debut for the Wallabies.

After being selected for the second Test, Knox waited almost five years before gaining his third cap for the Wallabies.

Knox was picked in the 1991 Rugby World Cup squad but did not play a match during the tournament, which Australia won under Farr-Jones’s leadership.

Three years later, Knox returned to the Wallabies for two Tests against Western Samoa and New Zealand.

Knox pulled on the national jersey three more times in 1996 and on five occasions in 1997, playing the last of his 13 Tests in a 13-year international career in which he scored 130 points.

From 1982 to 1998, Knox played 246 games for Randwick, scoring 55 tries, 536 goals and 510 penalty-field goals.

When Knox first faced Waverley Local Court over the charges on December 4 magistrate Michael Barko disqualified himself from hearing the case.

Before being appointed to the bench in 2012, Mr Barko had served for 20 years as honorary counsel for the Randwick District Rugby Union Football Club.