James Vlassakis, the youngest perpetrator in South Australia’s Snowtown murders, has been filmed leaving an Adelaide pre-release facility after the decision allowing his eventual release into the community was upheld.
The 46-year-old was seen walking through the Adelaide Pre-release Centre car park before getting into a white car and driving away. He later returned to the facility.
Vlassakis was transferred to the centre, which is alongside Yatala Labour Prison in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, after his parole was confirmed following a lengthy legal challenge.
The move is the latest step towards his release after he served the non-parole period attached to his life sentence. He has spent nearly 30 years in prison over his involvement in the Snowtown serial killings.
Vlassakis was the youngest of four perpetrators involved in the murders, which took place between 1992 and 1999. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 26 years, for his involvement in the deaths of Fred Brooks, Gary O’Dwyer, David Johnson and his half-brother Troy Youde.
He was granted parole by the South Australian Parole Board last year. The state government later sought a review, but the challenge failed after the Parole Administrative Review Commissioner found the Attorney-General had not established grounds to overturn the decision.
Conditions attached to James Vlassakis’s parole
Under the parole process, Vlassakis can spend up to 12 months at the Adelaide Pre-release Centre while the board monitors his progress and determines the conditions that will apply when he enters the community.
Parole Board chair Frances Nelson KC has said he will be subject to strict requirements, including a curfew, restrictions on his movements, random drug and alcohol testing and mandatory psychological intervention.
“He can’t leave the state without Parole Board permission, he can’t contact any of the victims’ families, there are some geographical exclusion areas where he cannot go because of proximity of victims’ families,” Ms Nelson said in September.
“He is liable to random drug and alcohol testing, he must obey the conditions at the pre-release centre, he’ll be sent off for psychological intervention.”
