The hours of brutal suffering that Kenneth McBride and Nicola Myers endured before they died one Saturday night in April 1985 on an isolated hillside at Braemar Hill is bound to colour public views on the imminent release of the youngest culprit, who was 15 at the time of the crime.
While the three eldest of the five convicted were given death sentences, commuted to life imprisonment, the other two were 'detained at Her Majesty's [later the chief executive's] pleasure'.
Under new legislation, such sentences can be converted to fixed terms, allowing the sentences of the youngest two to be reviewed and the pair released.
On Tuesday, Won Sam-lung, the youngest culprit, will be freed. It is possible that Cheung Yau-hang, 16 at the time of the crime, will also be released this year.
I was involved closely in those areas of Island School life in which Kenneth and Nicola participated, and I was closely involved in the aftermath of the tragedy. My memories of the 'wake' that replaced a debate meeting at which Kenneth and Nicola should have been on the evening after their deaths, the television and press coverage, the memorial services, the dignity and courage of the two grieving families, the manhunt and trial, are all as vivid to me as if they occurred last month.
As one who followed the case through the courts and attended the trial for a few hours, putting faces to the names of the accused was a salutary experience. What was surprising was the immaturity of the two youngest accused. Though only a year or so younger than their victims, they seemed to be many years their junior - young adolescents rather than young adults.