South Australia’s Attorney-General Kyam Maher has detailed the reasons behind his decision to appeal the Parole Board’s release of Snowtown killer James Vlassakis, suggesting that the board “erred” in granting parole.
Mr Maher confirmed earlier this week that he had lodged a formal application for a review of the Parole Board’s August decision, which allowed Vlassakis to be freed after serving 26 years of a life sentence.
In a statement issued on Thursday, he outlined that the board “failed to give proper weight” to several key factors, including the safety of the community, the seriousness of the offences, and the likelihood of Vlassakis complying with parole conditions.
“I made an application for a review… on the grounds that the Parole Board had ‘erred in granting the prisoner’s release on parole,’” Mr Maher told ABC News.
A directions hearing is scheduled for late October.
Due to confidentiality rules under the Correctional Services Act, the Attorney-General said he was unable to comment further but confirmed his statement had been authorised by the Parole Administrative Review Commissioner.
Vlassakis, now in his mid-40s, was the youngest of four men behind the “bodies-in-the-barrels” serial killings between 1992 and 1999. He pleaded guilty to four murders and later testified against ringleaders John Bunting and Robert Wagner, both of whom remain in prison for multiple murders.
Source: ABC News
