Kriel parole hearing deferred

Tributes to murdered teenager Liberty Templeman on the Cobham Rd bridge, where her body was found in 2008. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A parole hearing for a convicted Kerikeri murderer, who was 14 at the time, has been deferred until next year.

Hermanus Theodorus Kriel was sentenced in the High Court at Whangārei in 2010 to 11 years and six months' prison for the murder of 15-year-old Liberty (Libby) Templeman, with a concurrent term of six months for indecently assaulting her. His second parole hearing, at Rolleston prison, in Christchurch, was scheduled for Thursday last week, but was deferred until May to give him, his counsel and parole board members time to consider new information received by the board earlier last week.

The nature of new information has not been released.

At Kriel's first parole hearing, in May this year, board chairman Sir Ron Young said it needed to be made clear if the background to his offending involved a sexual interest. Libby's parents told the board they had information showing the teenager had asked their daughter out on a date, and had made overtly sexual comments to her.

Kriel denied that, so the board asked the Templemans to provide more information.

The previous parole decision noted that Kriel, then aged 26, had completed eight sessions with a psychologist and had a prepared safety plan. However, he remained an "undue risk," and could not explain why he reacted in the way he did to what was, according to his version of events, a relatively minor incident.

Young said Kriel had provided several different versions of events, so it was not entirely clear what had happened. It seemed likely that he had tripped or stumbled and pushed Libby, Kriel claiming that she had been angered, and had punched him. He then punched her several times. She was knocked out, dragged into the Wairoa Stream, and left to die.

Libby's family moved to Auckland in 2008, but in November she travelled back to Kerikeri for a social visit. She was last seen heading towards Kerikeri town centre with Kriel after catching up with old friends.