Thomas Towle was set free yesterday on early parole, returning to his Bendigo home with family members, to the disgust and horror of his victim’s families.
“He can hug his kids, watch TV with them and watch them grow up to become adults,” Richard Prowse, uncle of two of Towle’s teenage victims told Nine News.
“We don’t have that. We can’t watch them grow up.”
Towle killed six teenagers – Abby Hirst, 17, Stevie-Lee Weight, 15, and 16-year-olds Shane Hirst, Cassandra Manners, Cory Dowling and Josephine Calvi – when his car ploughed into them as they left a party near Mildura in 2006.
He was driving at high speed with his four-year-old son on his lap and fled the scene of the crash on foot, leaving his child in the car.
Police found him and he was convicted of manslaughter in 2008 and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was released on parole in 2013. He subsequently breached his parole and was imprisoned again in 2014.
“We’re still in shock because he’s been released on parole,” Mr Prowse said. “The sentence should have been a lot longer.”
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