The Pretoria family will celebrate the festive holiday together for the first time in over three years.
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There will be a much happier vibe in the Tiedt household come Christmas tomorrow.
The Pretoria family will celebrate the festive holiday together for the first time in over three years, since their son Reinach Tiedt was jailed as one of the infamous Waterkloof Four.
Reinach was controversially freed, along with Gert van Schalkwyk on Monday after his 12-year-jail sentence was commuted to correctional supervision.
The other two, Christoff Becker and Frikkie du Preez, are still serving their 12-year sentences in the Pretoria Central Prison.
However there’s one person who won’t be getting an invitation to the Tiedts’ annual Christmas lunch.
A 45-year-old Hettie Kruger, who claims to be a family friend as well as Reinach’s girlfriend, will be spending Christmas away from “her man”.
This year, the West Rand woman visited the 25-year-old at least 19 times at the Zonderwater Prison in Cullinan where he was being held for killing a homeless man and assaulting another at a park in Pretoria in December 2001.
However the Tiedt family want nothing to do with her
In an interview with Rapport, Reinach’s mother Liz denied her son had any relationship with Kruger, who is 20 years older than him.
Kruger refused to speak to the Saturday Star this week.
“I don’t mind speaking to you when my lawyer is around. He’s gone away and will only be back in the new year though,” she said.
But in a letter she wrote to the Zonderwater Prison parole board in March, pleading with them to release Reinach, details of her relationship with him came up.
Kruger asked the parole board to consider converting his sentence to correctional supervision. She told the chairman of the parole board she had been in a serious year-long relationship with Reinach which began last December.
The woman claimed she had known Reinach since he was a child.
“He is an inspiration to every person - young and old. Due to my close relationship with him, I can say with confidence that he is a stable, reliable, level headed person with so much confidence and is ready to start his life in the outside world and will, without a doubt, achieve whatever goals he set out for himself,” said Kruger in the letter.
She further stated that her relationship with Reinach was based on a solid foundation of trust and mutual respect as well as a good moral understanding of each other.
“I have experienced all these aspects and so much more with Reinach during our relationship… I can therefore, from personal experience, confirm that he is an exceptional person and can’t wait to start my life with him,” she said.
Kruger said she had noticed during every visit to Zonderwater Prison Reinach’s positive outlook on life.
“Taking his situation and conditions into consideration, he still achieved so many goals and challenges set out for him within his time at Zonderwater.”
“Being an inspiration as well as setting an example for his fellow inmates,” she added.
Kruger claimed Reinach would be moving in with her on his release.
“Upon his release he will be residing with me at our home at Little Falls in Roodepoort,” she said.
Reinach’s family moved to scotch this though, telling Rapport he would be going home to his family for the duration of his sentence.
At the time of his conviction, Reinach was a student in the US. He completed his studies with eight distinctions. Tiedt did a BCom financial management degree in prison, which he completed in October with 19 distinctions.
Attempts to get comment from the Tiedt family yesterday were unsuccessful. - Saturday Star