One of Australia's 'most violent' killers makes bid for freedom

In short: Alistair MacRae, who is behind bars for murdering four people in the 1980s, has made a bid for freedom. The Parole Administrative Review Commissioner confirmed to the ABC that a review of MacRae's parole is underway. What's next? A preliminary hearing for the parole review would be held next week. An underworld killer who murdered four people, including three members of the same family, is fighting to be released from prison after almost four decades behind bars. Alistair Farquhar MacRae, who once told a court he should never be released from prison, was initially granted parole, but that decision is now under review. MacRae shot and killed Dominic Marafiote in July 1985, before he buried the 42-year-old father of four under a chicken shed in a pre-dug grave at his rural property at Merbein, near Mildura. MacRae then drove to Adelaide and killed the Mildura green grocer's parents, Rosa and Carmelo Marafiote, at their Woodville North home. The career criminal, who worked in Melbourne's underworld for years, also committed a fourth murder. Albert O'Hara was killed by MacRae in Victoria, six months before the Marafiote murders. Mr O'Hara, like Dominic Marafiote, was lured to MacRae's property as part of marijuana deals, before he was shot dead and buried on the property. MacRae, who was handed four life sentences with a non-parole period of 36 years, has been in jail in Victoria, then South Australia, since his arrest in December 1987. MacRae would be one of Australia's most dangerous offenders, according to Central Queensland University criminologist Xanthe Weston. "These are what I would describe as execution style murders, so they're obviously premeditated, they're very carefully planned and they show no emotion at all," Associate Professor Weston said. "He would rate as one of the most violent offenders I think Australia has currently seen." Parole review underway The 77-year-old, who is currently in the Yatala pre-release centre, was granted parole in June but that decision is now under review with the new Parole Administrative Review Commissioner David Lovell. A preliminary hearing would be held on Tuesday next week. While secrecy surrounds details of parole reviews, Commissioner Lovell has granted the ABC permission to report that a review is underway. While it was unclear who asked for the review, only the Attorney-General Kyam Maher, the Police Commissioner Grant Stevens and the Commissioner for Victims' Rights Sarah Quick have the right to request a review under the Correctional Services Act. But they are restricted from making any comment on the process. Associate Professor Weston said a parole review for MacRae had always been a strong possibility. "I'm not at all surprised that there are cause for a review of this individual being released into the community given the seriousness of these crimes," she said. "Four murders is quite extreme and I think that the community is rightly concerned that this individual may be released and could go on to harm others given the right circumstances." The MacRae review has come as a controversial review process is underway for the youngest of the Snowtown killers, James Vlassakis, who also killed four people. MacRae had been eligible to apply for parole since December 2023. Former Commissioner for Victims' Rights Michael O'Connell said MacRae had told the South Australian Supreme Court he should remain behind bars for life. "It surprises me that he's applied for parole given some of the comments he made at the time of his conviction," Mr O'Connell said. On the day he was sentenced over Rosa and Carmelo's murders, MacRae had told the court that he did not "function in normal society". "I have been charged and found guilty of four murders and still there is talk of my possible release," MacRae said at the time. "To allow me to be released would place a bigger value on my life and my freedom and a lesser value on the lives of my victims. "The only way of showing my true remorse is by you showing the same leniency that I gave my victims and that is absolutely none. "I ask I be allowed to give to the families of the victims the only thing I have or may have left in my life and that is I be allowed to forfeit any possible chance of release, that is all I can do to show my true remorse." If the review allowed the parole board's initial decision to stand, MacRae could be free within months. "The question now is, is he a suitable person to be released back into the community? … and I'm yet to be convinced that he is and I'm sure many family members are yet to be convinced that he is," Mr O'Connell said. "The fact that there's a possibility he was going to be released would have played on their minds for decades, but now the reality has hit. "From a victim's perspective, knowing that the person's out and about, living their life, getting on with things, that can hurt and it hurts extremely." Mr O'Connell said there's also been speculation that MacRae may have murdered other people during his long period in Melbourne's criminal underworld. "The fact that he's suspected of being involved in other murders, one would hope that other police departments around Australia have been alerted and possibly some of those cases have come to the fore," he said. When asked about MacRae, Victoria Police said in a statement they were "not in a position to confirm if nominated individuals are under active or previous investigation for matters".