Parole board must keep Steven’s family up to date

Angus killer Tasmin Glass will go before the parole board on May 29 as the panel try to decide, for a second time, if she should be released back into society.

The Courier remains firm that she should not be paroled five years into a 10year sentence for her role in the brutal murder of Steven Donaldson in Kirriemuir.

Glass was convicted of culpable homicide and it would be a betrayal of the Donaldson family’s grief, and justice, if she were to serve just half of that sentence.

Steven’s family have made their representations to the board that the killer should stay behind bars – the panel must listen to them and put their testimony first.

This is the second time the panel will look at Glass’s case after they failed to come to a verdict on February 28.

They postponed their ruling for an oral hearing.

The Donaldson family were not aware deferral was an option – nobody told them. More than eight weeks after the postponement they waited anxiously, wondering why there was no update.

They knew they were due three weeks’ notice before the oral hearing could take place. The family were of the belief Glass would have her hearing by May 3 – the date she would have been released if the parole board found in her favour on February 28. But the threeweek point came and went without contact.

No one at the parole board thought it pertinent to tell them the May 3 date no longer applied – that the rules change when a decision is not made first time round.

The lack of communication from the parole board since February 28 is symptomatic of an organisation that lacks transparency at nearly every stage in its dealings with victims and their families.

Tired of waiting, and of being kept in the dark, the Donaldsons and The Courier decided to act. On Monday morning, we and Steven’s sister Lori contacted Victim Support and the parole board asking why the family had not been given a date for the oral hearing.

By Monday afternoon they were notified the hearing would be held on May 29.

It is of mammoth coincidence the parole board happened to set a date on the very day the family and The Courier asked why there had been no update.

It should not take direct action by families and newspapers for the parole board to provide victims long-awaited information.

At a time when families need empathy from the system, they are met with a wall of silent bureaucracy. The parole board would no doubt point to a clause within a clause on some part of their website that explains the differing rules.

But they are not explained to victims and their families as standard.

At a time of unimaginable strain they are left out of the loop, isolated from the process, kept at arm’s length by the organisation they are relying on for justice.

In The Courier’s A Voice for Victims campaign we have spoken to many victims and families, including the Donaldsons, who feel forgotten within the parole system. It is time to ensure they are put at its centre.