Snowtown killer James Vlassakis has been moved into a halfway house in Adelaide after being granted parole, marking his first step towards life outside prison after more than two decades in custody.
The 46-year-old is staying at the Adelaide Pre-release Centre in Yatala, in the city’s northern suburbs. He is expected to spend up to 12 months there while the state’s Parole Board monitors his progress.
Vlassakis will spend his first night outside prison custody on Wednesday. The board will decide when he is suitable to return fully to the community.
He was the youngest of four men sentenced over the Snowtown murders, in which 12 people were killed during the 1990s. The victims included people regarded by the killers as undesirable, including disabled people, homosexual people and alleged paedophiles.
Vlassakis was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 26 years, which has now elapsed. His release on parole was upheld following a number of hearings earlier this month.
He pleaded guilty to involvement in the murders of four victims: Fred Brooks, Gary O’Dwyer, David Johnson and his half-brother, Troy Youde.
Vlassakis received a shorter sentence than John Bunting and Robert Wagner after becoming a key prosecution witness during their trials. Neither Bunting nor Wagner was given a parole period as part of their life sentences.
The fourth man, Mark Haydon, was convicted of helping to dispose of the bodies and sentenced to 25 years in prison, with a minimum non-parole period of 18 years.
