The Victorian government faces a possible backlash over revelations hit-run killer Thomas Towle's sentence has been cut by the Adult Parole Board despite his parole breach.
Towle was jailed in 2008 for 10 years, with a minimum of seven, found guilty in 2008 of six counts of dangerous driving causing death after his car ploughed into a group of 13 teenagers, killing six, at Cardross, near Mildura, in February 2006.
He was released in June 2013 on good behaviour with strict conditions that he must not enter Mildura and must abstain from drugs and alcohol, but was re-jailed in September last year to serve the rest of his sentence for an unspecified parole breach.
But a Bendigo pub worker told AAP he had witnessed Towle drinking on a number of occasions at his pub.
Kerry Prowse, the mother of siblings Abby and Shane Hirst, who died in the crash alongside four other teens, says the parole board has told families of the victims that Towle's sentence has been shortened by eight months and will be released in September 2017.
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He has also applied for parole, which if successful will cut his sentence even more.
Ms Prowse says she's livid.
"He's stuffed up again and he should go right back to jail and finish his sentence," she told AAP.
In a statement to Nine News on Wednesday, an Adult Parole Board spokesperson said they considered all relevant information in deciding to re-parole an offender whose parole has been cancelled "with the paramount consideration being the safety and protection of the community".
