The Waterkloof Four have been slated for parole in February, according to the Correctional Services Department. Reinach Tiedt, Gert van Schalkwyk, Christoff Becker and Frikkie du Preez will be released together on 11 Febuary. The group was initially sentenced to 12 years each after murdering a homeless man in Eastern Pretoria  in 2001.

They were 16 and 15 years old at the time. Although they were apprehended in January 2007, the teenagers only donned their orange jumpsuits more than a year and a half later, after spending a large amount of resources on failed appeals.

The four were all held in Pretoria’s local prision, but Tiedt and Van Schalkwyk made a transfer to Zonderwater prision, which is infamous for it’s lax parole board. The two got away with spending only three years in jail before they made parole, only to be called back by the Department of Correctional Services who weren’t even aware they had been let out.

Now the entire group is being set free on parole for “good behavior” but have been given a fair warning by the Correctional Services spokesperson Manelisi Wolela: “We have very strict parole conditions, any deviation from those conditions may result in their parole being revoked”

[Source: News24 ]