Waterkloof man’s parole on hold

Frikkie du Preez. File photo: Phill Magakoe

Frikkie du Preez. File photo: Phill Magakoe

Published Aug 1, 2014

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Johannesburg - No decision was taken on the parole of Frikkie du Preez, one of the so-called Waterkloof Four, after the correctional supervision and parole board met, the correctional services department said on Friday.

“The correctional supervision and parole board met on Thursday and it was postponed to August 9,” spokesman Ofentse Morwane said.

“After the meeting, no decision was made.”

On July 10, the High Court in Pretoria ruled that the correctional supervision and parole board did not follow basic precepts when it revoked the parole of Du Preez.

Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann took issue with the composition of the board, noting that one member was replaced and the substitute had not attended public hearings regarding the parole.

“The board did not, as a collective, attend the hearing and consequently the applicant was denied the right to a fair hearing before a properly constituted board,” he said at the time.

“The decision of the board is therefore fundamentally flawed and must therefore be set aside.”

He ordered that a newly constituted parole board must reconsider Du Preez's application for parole.

Du Preez and Christoff Becker's parole was revoked when a video emerged of the pair drinking what appeared to be alcohol and using a cellphone at the Kgosi Mampuru prison in Pretoria.

The Waterkloof Four - Du Preez, Becker, Gert van Schalkwyk and Reinach Tiedt - were released on bail on February 11 after being jailed for beating a homeless man to death in Pretoria in 2001.

Becker and Du Preez were sent back to prison on February 28.

Bertelsmann said parole board procedures clearly envisaged a public hearing and should have allowed Du Preez to address it.

He set aside the decision of the parole board and ordered that a new correctional supervision and parole board had to be constituted within 21 days.

Sapa

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