One of Northland’s youngest murderers is about to be released from prison after spending half his life behind bars — but his victims’ parents are far from convinced he’s a changed man.

Hermanus Theodorus Kriel, known as Theo, was convicted in a jury trial in 2010 for the murder of schoolmate Liberty Templeman. She was 15 at the time; he was just 14.

The exact circumstances have never become clear — Kriel’s accounts to police and the court were inconsistent — but what is known is that on the evening of November 1, 2008, the two schoolmates were in an abandoned orchard near Kerikeri’s Cobham Rd bridge when he punched her, strangled her and then dragged her to the nearby Wairoa Stream.

He left the unconscious girl face-down in the water, tearing her clothes to make it look like a rape.

The disappearance of Liberty, known to her friends and family as Libby, rocked Kerikeri and sparked a major search operation.

Her body was found by a police officer late the following day. Kriel, who had joined in the search, was arrested five days later.

The now-28-year-old was refused parole on four previous occasions, with Libby’s parents, Rebecca and Andy Templeman, opposing his release each time and gathering extra information to present to Parole Board members.

School staff, parents and students also made submissions raising concerns about Kriel’s behaviour as a teenager.

Rebecca Templeman questioned whether Kriel had genuinely acknowledged what he had done.

“Even in May, when the Parole Board was questioning him about his actions that day, he was still giving three or four different versions. He’s maintained that throughout, and we do find that a real concern. You’d like to think they’d dig deeper to really see how his mind ticks.”

The couple “absolutely” believed Kriel was not yet fit for release.

They accepted the report’s statement about his good work ethic, but worried about other aspects of his character such as anger management. The report said he had strategies for dealing with high-risk situations, but did not specify what those situations were.

“We feel like we have only half the story,” she said.

While the Templemans opposed Kriel’s release, the Parole Board’s decision had lifted a terrible weight from their shoulders.

“It has been suggested that we were coming up with more information to keep him inside for longer. Well, of course we were, but ultimately what we were doing was trying to help the Parole Board be more objective. It was apparent that something was not entirely right with him and we wanted to make sure he got the right care. We didn’t want the responsibility that he’d be released and offend again,” she said.

“We don’t agree with the Parole Board decision, but by making it, they have taken that weight off our shoulders. We’ve given him too much of our time. He has consumed our lives right from the beginning and was always lurking in the shadows. But no more. It’s done. We just want him out of our lives now. He’s taken too much away from Libby and from our family. Hopefully he’s learned his lesson and he’ll go on to be a good citizen. But we’re not convinced.”

The Templemans, who have lived in Auckland since 2008 but plan to move to Waipū shortly, said Libby was still very much part of the family.

“Lovely Libby, she’s still here. We still play her music. We miss her incredibly. I don’t know why people say time is a healer. It’s not. It changes your perspective and makes you learn to live your life differently without having that person around,” Rebecca Templeman said.

“To think that next year would have been her 30th birthday. We often wonder what she’d be doing. We keep in touch with her friends – they’re married and have children. It’s lovely to have that contact with her old school friends, but at the same time, it does rip the band-aid off each time.”

The Parole Board report states Kriel will be released from Christchurch Men’s Prison on December 20.

Release conditions include a ban on entering the Christchurch CBD or travelling north of the Bombay Hills. He will be electronically monitored and subject to a nightly curfew.

The board’s chairman, Sir Ron Young, said Kriel had been employed in the community for more than a year and had been offered a permanent job.

He had behaved well in prison, where he was highly regarded for his work ethic and good social skills.

He would, however, need support from a psychologist to develop adult relationships, given he had been imprisoned throughout his teenage years and most of his 20s.

“We are satisfied now that he is no longer an undue risk and can be released. In saying that, we acknowledge that there remains uncertainty about the circumstances under which he came to kill his victim. There may well have been a direct sexual aspect. There is some evidence that at school he had bullied others from time to time. However, we also see evidence of 15 years of good behaviour in prison. We see no sign at all of any antisocial personality issues.”

Young acknowledged the Templemans’ extensive submissions over many years and appreciated they would not welcome the board’s decision.

They believed Kriel had not been fully rehabilitated, had not been honest about his offending, and was inherently violent.

Kriel was found guilty of murder in a jury trial at the Whangārei High Court and sentenced in 2010 to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 11-and-a-half years.