Lynette Nitschke worries that, one day, when she's in a shop or a cafe or a park, she'll catch sight of the man who murdered her daughter.
Allison Nitschke was an 18-year-old boarder at Adelaide's St Mark's College when, in September 1991, another student entered her room and strangled her.
Alister Thompson was jailed in 1993, but Ms Nitschke said he was released on parole several years ago.
She said she was not allowed to know anything about where he lived or worked.
"The thought of seeing him again makes me feel ill," Ms Nitschke said.
"It's particularly when I'm standing in check-out lines, or in an area where you're with a lot of people, like a food court."
She said she was conscious he could be there.
"Even though I'm not sure I would recognise him … it gives you a bit of an eerie feeling thinking he could be anywhere," she said.
Ms Nitschke is chairperson of the Homicide Victim Support Group of SA, which represents families of murder and manslaughter victims.
She said inadvertently crossing paths with a loved ones' killer had been a reality for some members.
In one case, a mother came face to face with the man who fatally bashed her son.
"She literally ran into him in the supermarket aisle," Ms Nitschke said.
She believes that to prevent such scenarios, victims' families should be granted a right that is currently denied them.
"I don't believe we need to know the exact addresses.
"I just think they're should be a little bit more detail, I think we should know the suburb he lives in and I think we should know if he's moved."
Privacy and safety issues
Decisions about such matters are in the hands of the Parole Board, and mediation with the board is handled by the Commissioner for Victims' Rights.
"We don't get a lot of requests to know where the offender is going to live [but] we certainly get some," Assistant Commissioner Sarah Quick said.
She said it was a a complex issue.
"There's ultimately a need to balance the rights of victims with the rights of offenders," Ms Quick said.
"We try to manage needs and concerns through a number of other measures."
She said they included exclusion zones.
Parole Board deputy presiding member Bill Boucaut said the points raised by Ms Nitschke were very serious and considered, but a couple of things needed to be remembered.
"If the victim lives in a certain location, and does not want the parolee to go anywhere near that, the board would impose some kind of exclusion zone that would preclude the parolee from going into those areas," Mr Boucaut said.
Breaching an exclusion zone could result in the parolee being sent back to prison.
He said the zones also decreased the likelihood of unwanted chance encounters.
In a statement, a Department for Correctional Services spokesperson said its Victims Services Unit offered information "including sentence and custodial accommodation details of the perpetrator", and consulted with victims "about 'no contact' conditions" and "the impact of an offender's proposed address".
"The Department for Correctional Services is committed to being responsible and accountable for meeting the rights and needs of victims," the spokesperson said.
But Mr Boucaut confirmed it was a basic principle of the Parole Board not to release details about suburbs or regions where offenders were living.
"The bigger the area, the smaller the risk," he said.
"[But] there are public safety concerns here — if people know where a parolee may be living, then clearly the potential is there for some kind of vigilante mentality."
'Piece of my heart torn out'
Ms Nitschke said she had no desire to seek out her daughter's killer but wanted to do everything she could to keep her distance.
Before Thompson was sentenced, Allison's parents delivered victim impact statements to the Supreme Court.
"The piece of my heart that belonged to her from the moment she was born has been torn out," Ms Nitschke told the court.
She said similar thoughts remained 30 years on.
"It has affected our lives drastically, not having Allison," she said.
"We all miss out on having her — and whatever family she would have had — as part of our life and our future.
"The thought of Thompson gives me the creeps.
She said it seemed very unfair he was able to get on with his life.
