NSW Corrective Services have defended the move to send triple murderer Matthew De Gruchy to work at a Junee abattoir, as he prepares for his release.
Mr De Gruchy was just 18 years old when he horrifically killed three of his four family members at their Illawara home.
Now, twenty-one years on, Mr De Gruchy appears to have reinvented himself as a model inmate of Junee Correctional Centre, his parole hearing in sight.
Corrective Services NSW spokesperson said Mr De Gruchy was working in the chill room, with no access to knives.
“While housed at Junee Correctional Centre the inmate has exhibited appropriate custodial behaviour and caused no security issues,” the spokesperson said.
“All work locations are risk assessed to ensure they are suitable for the employer and the inmate and do not present any security concerns.”
Mr De Gruchy was sentenced to a maximum 28 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 21 years, after police found a checklist in his hand, detailing how to murder his family.
The murder weapon was never found, leaving the note as the largest piece of evidence in the heartbreaking case.
Mr De Gruchy slayed his mother Jennifer and his teenage siblings, Sarah, 13, and Adrian, 15, on March 12, 1996.
All three family members died in separate rooms of the house, tragically bloodied and disfigured.
Corrective services said Mr De Grunchy was approved for works release, education leave and day leave and had received “good work reports” from his employer.
“This inmate will be released back into the community at some point,” the spokesperson said.
“Day works release is an important step to ensure he will assimilate into the community successfully.”
Mr De Gruchy was previously in maximum security at Goulburn, where he was charged along with four fellow inmates over an attack on two brothers in 2009, before being transferred to Junee Correctional Centre.
Mr De Gruchy’s release was set to be decided at a private parole hearing on Thursday, before the case was stood over to May 25.
His earliest possible release date is June 21, with his full term set to expire in June 2024.
Fairfax Media understands Mr De Gruchy will apply to live with his stepbrother and his father, Wayne De Gruchy, in Tasmania after his release.
