Anger at killer’s release
The parents of a man stabbed to death on his own front lawn are disgusted at a decision to allow one of the killers to travel near where they live and work.
Stoyan Mihaylo Militch, 37, will be released from prison in March, having served little more than six years of the eight-year, four-month term imposed for the manslaughter of Michael Valentine.
Valentine died in February 2013, bleeding out on the front lawn of his Horowhenua home after being stabbed by Militch.
Militch met with the Parole Board in February and was granted parole, albeit only at the end of March, so Valentine’s family could adjust to the fact he was being released.
He will be Gps-monitored and is banned from travelling to Taupo¯ , Hawke’s Bay or anywhere south of Palmerston North until August 2021.
But the fact Militch can travel to Palmerston North has angered Valentine’s stepfather and mother, John and Lynda Timmer-arends.
The pair, who live in Horowhenua, travel to the nearby city regularly, with most of John Timmer-arends’ work taking place there.
Two other men, Brayden Windley and Michael Zimmerman, were also convicted of Valentine’s manslaughter, and have already been given parole.
The Parole Board banned Windley and Zimmerman from the wider area, but Militch was able to go there to connect with his family, John Timmer-arends said.
‘‘We knew they were going to let him out soon. We can’t stop that. But we are really angry he is allowed to go to Palmerston North.
‘‘They have listened to everything he has said and nothing we said.’’
Militch, Windley and Zimmerman went to Valentine’s home over what Justice Ronald Young called, when he sentenced them in 2014, ‘‘a trivial event stoked by stupid and foolish rumour’’.
It was alleged Valentine’s partner had held Zimmerman’s toothbrush
‘‘We knew they were going to let him out soon. We can’t stop that. But we are really angry he is allowed to go to Palmerston North.’’ John Timmer-arends, Michael Valentine’s stepfather
in front of someone urinating into a toilet, while Windley was angry about her allegedly taking a hard drive he owned.
The drunk and angry pair of Zimmerman and Windley picked Militch up, as well as knives and pit bull dogs, before heading to Valentine’s house for the fatal confrontation.
Militch now saying he was a changed man was different to reality, John Timmer-arends said.
Linda Timmer-arends said Militch, who has multiple violence convictions, was a ‘‘psychopath’’ who went to work after killing Valentine.
He had never shown real remorse to the family and was unlikely to have changed while in prison, she said.
In its report, the Parole Board said Militch had made ‘‘considerable progress’’, completing programmes, living in self-care units, doing work-to-release and even having a picnic outside the wire.
The board was worried about his plan to live in a caravan on the coast after he was released, but said his chef qualifications gave him a good shot at employment.
He was working as a chef when he killed Valentine.
When the board asked him about living elsewhere, he told its members it was important he had the ability to reconnect with people.
As part of his release, Militch is banned from associating with the Nomads gang, drinking and taking drugs, and from having contact with Valentine’s family.
He must also stay home from 10pm until 6am every day for the first three months of his release.