/ 27 December 2011

Correctional services aims to fight Waterkloof release

Correctional Services Aims To Fight Waterkloof Release

The correctional services department will “definitely and without doubt” — and as soon as possible — apply for a review of the court order that allowed the changing of the sentences of two of the Waterkloof Four from incarceration in prison to house arrest, Beeld newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper reported that correctional services deputy commissioner Zacharia Modise had said on Monday night that a formal announcement to this effect would be made at a press conference on Tuesday.

Gert van Schalkwyk and Reinach Tiedt were imprisoned along with Christoff Becker and Frikkie du Preez in 2008 for killing a homeless man and assaulting another at a park in Pretoria in 2001.

Bekker and Du Preez, who are serving their sentences in Pretoria Central Prison, had not been released and there has been no word as to whether they would be.

Modise said before Christmas that no applications for Bekker and Du Preez had so far been received or were being processed by the Pretoria Central Prison parole board.

He said the department would oppose any decision to commute the sentences of Bekker and Du Preez. — Sapa