A man who bludgeoned his partner and choked his two young sons to death in Wollongong 17 years ago is ready to be released from prison, the state’s parole authority has said.
Sandor Cikos has been behind bars for 16 years for killing his de-factor partner 27-year-old Allison Penrose and their boys, four-year-old Jake and 18-month-old Travis, in the family’s house in West Dapto in 1999.
At the time, then 39-year-old Cikos claimed he had returned home to find his family dead and cancelled a media address to plead for the killers to come forward.
He later confessed to their murder.
The court heard at the time Cikos and Ms Penrose developed a violent relationship after she encouraged him to have sex with one of her friends.
“She watched whilst the girlfriend and [Cikos] had sex together; but once her fantasy had become a reality, she apparently did not like what she saw,” Justice John Dunford said.
The judge said Ms Penrose began a torrent of abuse against Cikos almost immediately after the event, including stabbing and threatening to kill him.
“[She] told her beautician that she was constantly breaking her fingernails assaulting the prisoner and she hit him whenever she could,” Justice Dunford said.
During the trial, Cikos said he killed his children because he could not bear the thought of them going through life without their mother, and with the knowledge their father killed her.
Ms Penrose’s family were distraught at the sentence — 21 years in prison with a non-parole period of 15 years.
One family member said outside court at the time: “The only thing I would’ve been happy with, would’ve been the death penalty.”
Now 55 years old, Cikos will be released from prison later this month.
The parole authority said it considered Cikos’ completion of offenders programs and satisfactory behaviour behind bars in deciding to release him on supervised parole at the end of the month.
Cikos must not have any contact with the victims’ families and not visit Parramatta and Blacktown, or visit the Wollongong, Wagga Wagga and Eurobodalla Shire areas under the conditions of his parole.
He will be on supervised parole until 2021.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
© 2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Read the ABC Disclaimer here.