Pretoria – Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Michael Masutha, has welcomed the judgment in the North Gauteng High Court dismissing an application by Ferdi Barnard to review the Minister’s decision to decline his release on parole and for the court to order his immediate release.
The Minister said the judgment reaffirmed his view that his decision was reasonable and above board.
Barnard had applied for a review and setting aside of the decision of the Minister to decline his release on parole.
On 4 June 1998, Barnard was sentenced to two terms of life and 63 years imprisonment, after being found guilty of having committed serious crimes, including the murder of Dr David Webster who was an anthropologist at the University of Witwatersrand.
The murder was committed while Barnard was on parole for a previous murder.
On 28 November 2014, he applied to be released on parole. However, an agreement which became an order of the court was reached by parties.
The court order required the National Council for Correctional Services (NCCS) to consider the application on or before 19 December 2014, as required by the law.
Upon receipt of the decision from the NCCS wherein they recommended his release on 19 February 2015 with a release date of 1 June 2015, the Minister refused to approve his release and ordered a further profile on 25 February 2015.
The Minister cited a lack of the second victim’s family involvement in the parole process and Barnard’s lack of participation in self development programs among the reasons for his decision.
The court on Wednesday found that the Minister considered both the positive and negative factors in deciding not to approve the NCCS recommendation that Barnard be placed on parole.
It concluded that on the facts before it, the Minister’s refusal to adopt the NCCS recommendation is not sufficient to render his decision unreasonable. – SAnews.gov.za
