“It’s amazing to be heard,” Olivia Jasriel, one of the rape survivors of former tennis star Bob Hewitt, said after hearing the news that his parole was set aside. 

“He has never shown remorse,” she said.  

On Friday, the Department of Correctional Services announced that due to procedural problems with Hewitt’s parole application, it was set aside, and he must apply again. 

On September 15, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, instructed the national commissioner of correctional services, Arthur Fraser, to take the decision to place Hewitt on parole on review.

This was due to a lack of participation by his victims in the parole consideration process. 

He was supposed to be released on parole on September 23 until September 19, 2022.

But his victims were angry that they had not been notified in time to prepare to attend the hearing. 

The 79-year-old was convicted of the rape of two young women and the sexual assault of another who he coached in the 1980s and 1990s.

He was sentenced to six years in prison, News24 previously reported.

Jasriel told News24 she was “extremely grateful” to Lamola for taking them seriously, especially in light of mounting concern over gender-based violence.

“Now we can continue to be heard,” she said. 

Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the matter has to be re-enrolled with the Correctional Supervision and Parole Board once all the recommendations of the parole review board have been considered.