Bernard Johannas HEKKENBERG 24/07/2024

Parole Hearing

Under section 21(2) of the Parole Act 2002

Bernard Johannas HEKKENBERG

Hearing: 24 July 2024

On the papers

Members of the Board:

Sir Ron Young – Chairperson

Dr J Skipworth

Mr A Hackney

Dr G Coyle

DECISION OF THE BOARD

  1. Mr Hekkenberg, who is 66, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in 2007.  After the murder, he had a conviction for assaulting a prison officer.  Prior to the murder he had two pages of convictions, including some violent and aggressive behaviour, with a significant conviction in 1995 for threatening to kill and wilful damage, endangering life and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily, when he received a sentence of three years’ imprisonment.
  2. We last saw him in November 2022.  At that stage, Mr Hekkenberg refused to be interviewed by a psychologist.  He does have a long history of being upset with Corrections, and perhaps arising from that his behaviour has been uneven.  He started the STU:VO in 2021 but was exited because he was aggressive.  Overall he has had considerable trouble regulating his emotions.  It was thought that the way forward for him was to work with [withheld] and once that was completed Corrections could assess him for suitability of the STU:VO, or one-on-one counselling.
  3. As to the current position, he declined to participate in the psychological assessment and said he had not engaged in any individual psychological treatment. He waived his attendance before the Board today.
  4. We ask Mr Hekkenberg to see the Board on the next occasion we identify for a Parole Board hearing.  It is helpful to us to understand Mr Hekkenberg's position in person and talk to him about  the way forward toward a safe release.  It is very difficult for us to make accurate assessments of the way forward for him if he does not talk to the psychologist, and if he does not turn up to talk to us.  So again we repeat, we ask him to turn up to discuss with the Board the way forward, irrespective of what stage he thinks his treatment is at.
  5. Generally he is said to engage politely, but can raise his voice from time to time. [withheld].  So we understand that he will have started the responsivity work with the psychologist in late June 2024.  We hope that is successful and that he will be assessed as eligible for the STU:VO.
  6. We will see him again, therefore, in 18 months’ time, by the end of January 2026, with hope that he has completed that programme then, and we can assess the way forward.  In the meantime he is an undue risk.

Sir Ron Young

Chairperson