Apartheid-era assassin Eugene de Kock will find out in December if the National Council for Correctional Services will recommend him for parole, according to an agreement reached in the High Court in Pretoria today.
“An agreement in this matter has been reached,” Roelof du Plessis, SC for De Kock said.
“Having read the papers and having heard counsel, the following order is made by agreement between the parties in light of the victim/offender dialogue which has taken place between the applicant and relatives of victims of the crimes committed by him.”
The national council for correctional services has to on or before December 19, 2014, consider De Kock for the purposes of its recommendation to the minister of justice and correctional services “with regard to the placement of the applicant on parole”.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha will then have to make a decision on or before 31 January on whether De Kock will be granted parole.
In August, Masutha announced that De Kock, who has been nicknamed “Prime Evil”, would have to wait another year before his application for parole was reconsidered, to allow the families of his victims to be consulted.
De Kock was in charge of a police “death squad” at Vlakplaas, outside Pretoria, and was arrested in mid-1994. He was convicted and sentenced in the High Court in Pretoria in 1996.
He was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment for six murders, including the Nelspruit Five, and to a further 212 years’ imprisonment on other charges.
Agreement reached on De Kock parole
“An agreement in this matter has been reached,” Roelof du Plessis, SC for De Kock said.
“Having read the papers and having heard counsel, the following order is made by agreement between the parties in light of the victim/offender dialogue which has taken place between the applicant and relatives of victims of the crimes committed by him.”
The national council for correctional services has to on or before December 19, 2014, consider De Kock for the purposes of its recommendation to the minister of justice and correctional services “with regard to the placement of the applicant on parole”.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha will then have to make a decision on or before 31 January on whether De Kock will be granted parole.
In August, Masutha announced that De Kock, who has been nicknamed “Prime Evil”, would have to wait another year before his application for parole was reconsidered, to allow the families of his victims to be consulted.
De Kock was in charge of a police “death squad” at Vlakplaas, outside Pretoria, and was arrested in mid-1994. He was convicted and sentenced in the High Court in Pretoria in 1996.
He was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment for six murders, including the Nelspruit Five, and to a further 212 years’ imprisonment on other charges.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos