Parole for Bob Hewitt awaiting review

The decision to parole former tennis champ Bob Hewitt has been placed on review – suspending his release from prison.

Justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola said the victims and their families should be afforded an opportunity to participate in the parole process.

Hewitt was expected to be released on September 23.

He would have been on parole until September 19 2022, according to a letter written on Thursday by St Albans correctional supervision and parole board chair CC Binta.

Media reports last week suggested Hewitt had been granted parole but this was denied on Thursday by correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo.

At the time, Nxumalo said while Hewitt was in fact eligible for parole, a final decision had not been made yet.

Asked on Sunday about the letter, Nxumalo said: “The department is yet to be informed officially by the parole board on its decision.”

He declined to comment further.

Hewitt’s son, Turner, said: “We’ve been advised not to comment.”

Lamola’s spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri, said the minister had instructed correctional services national commissioner Arthur Fraser to take the matter on review with the correctional supervision and parole review board.

This meant Hewitt’s parole had been suspended, he said.

“It is critical that the justice system in all its facets pays a considerable amount of attention to the victim-centric approach.”

Hewitt, once a major name on the international professional tennis circuit, was convicted in March 2015 of raping two young tennis pupils and sexually assaulting a third in the 1980s and 1990s.

He was sentenced to six years in jail but was jailed only in September 2016 after his unsuccessful Constitutional Court appeal.

In her letter to one of the victims, Binta wrote that the parole board had met on August 23, when Hewitt’s request for parole was accepted.

“Hewitt will be placed out on parole under [a] high-risk category for the duration of his parole,” she wrote.

But a furious Tania Koen, a lawyer who represents all three victims, said the parole board had made its decision without consulting the victims.

She said the letter had been sent to only one of the victims, whose identity the court had ordered not be revealed.

“The other two victims have not received any such letters.

“The law is there for all of us, including the correctional services department.

“It must follow the law and notify all the victims.

“They have a right to be informed when and where they can make representations to the parole board.

“The department failed to do that.” Koen said Hewitt should not be released on parole.

“Rape has reached pandemic proportions in SA.

“The rape of our children has reach pandemic proportions in SA.

“Yes, Hewitt is old now but the fact is that the court took his age into consideration when it sentenced him.

“But did he take the ages of his victims into account when he raped them?

“What message are we sending to society?

“A sentencing should serve as a deterrent for other rapists,” Koen said.

One of Hewitt’s victims, Suellen Sheehan, who has officially changed her name to Olivia Jasriel, said on Facebook that news of his possible release felt like a bullet to the head. Jasriel was just 12 when Hewitt raped her while coaching her in tennis.

He was expelled from the International Tennis Hall of Fame in April 2016.

Australian-born Hewitt retired to Addo after an illustrious tennis career in which he claimed several major titles, and which was followed by a long stint as a coach and commentator.