PH
Oscar Pistorius will be released from prison after nearly a decade in prison for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, after winning his case at a parole board meeting.
On Valentine’s Day 2013, the double amputee South African athlete shot and killed his partner, and was sentenced to 13 years in prison for her murder in 2016.Pistorius, now 36, claimed he mistook her for an intruder and that the shooting was a terrible error.
He was given parole today and will be released on January 5, according to South Africa’s Department of Corrections.
He will be given anger management therapy and will be unable to leave the Waterkloof region, where he will be staying with family, for the next five years.
Department spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said: “Parole does not mean the end of the sentence. It is still part of the sentence. It only means the inmate will complete the sentence outside a correctional facility.
He added: “The conditions, what’s important about them, is that they are there to assist an inmate to adjust, and also to address if there are still other areas that require attention.”
Other conditions attached to the release state when Pistorius has to be at home and when he can work. They will also stop him from consuming alcohol and drugs, the Mr Nxumalo said.
Rob Matthews, spokesperson for Ms Steenkamp’s mother June, addessed the media after the decision. He said: “The parole board are of the opinion that he met the criteria for release on parole and I believe June will be fine with that, but I can’t read inside her mind, I can only interpret what she said.”
“My personal opinion is that part of the road to rehabilitation is acknowledging what you have done and being accountable for what you have done and being man enough to say ‘I’ve done it’, and all the consequences that go with it, not just lip service because it’s easy to say sorry when you’ve been caught.”
Today’s hearing was the 37-year-old’s second attempt at parole after a previous hearing in March incorrectly found him ineligible for early release due to an error in when his jail sentence began.
Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide, a crime similar to manslaughter, for the death of his girlfriend in 2013, although that conviction was later reversed.
However, following an appeal by prosecutors, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to six years in prison in 2016, before his sentence was increased to 13 years and five months the following year.
