South African former Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius was released on parole on Friday, nearly 11 years after killing his girlfriend in a crime that shocked a nation long plagued by violence against women.
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Pistorius – nicknamed the ‘Blade Runner’ for his carbon fiber prosthetic legs – shot 29-year-old model Reeva Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door on Valentine’s Day 2013.
He has repeatedly said he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he fired four shots in the bathroom of his Pretoria home and has launched multiple appeals against his conviction on that basis.
“The Department of Corrections (is) able to confirm that Oscar Pistorius is on parole, effective January 5, 2024. He has been accepted into the Community Correctional Services system and is now at home,” the prisons department said in a statement. country.
Pistorius, now 37, spent about eight and a half years in prison as well as seven months under house arrest before being convicted of murder. A parole board in November decided he could be released after serving more than half of his sentence.
In a statement released by the Steenkamp family’s lawyer on Friday, Reeva’s mother June said: “There can never be justice if your loved one never comes back and no amount of time spent will bring Reeva back.” .
“We who are left behind are the ones who are serving a life sentence,” June Steenkamp said, adding that her only wish was to be allowed to live in peace after Pistorius is released.
A monitoring officer will monitor him until the end of his sentence in December 2029, who Pistorius will have to inform if he looks for work opportunities or moves to a new address.
He is also required to continue anger management therapy and attend sessions on gender-based violence as part of his release conditions, the Steenkamp family said.
June Steenkamp said the conditions imposed by the parole board reaffirmed her faith in the South African justice system as they send a clear message that gender-based violence is taken seriously.
Pistorius’ lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his release on Friday.
Local media expect him to live at his uncle Arnold Pistorius’ house in a wealthy suburb of Pretoria.
South Africans have shown mixed reactions to his release, with some feeling he has served his time, while others see his punishment as too lenient.
“He paid his price. Let him rebuild his life,” a local resident told reporters gathered outside his uncle’s home on Friday morning.
From paralympian to convicted murderer
Pistorius was once a darling of the sporting world and a pioneering voice for disabled athletes, campaigning for him to be allowed to compete with able-bodied participants in major sporting events.
In August 2012, just months before he shot his girlfriend, Pistorius became the first double amputee to compete at the London Olympics, where he reached the semi-finals of the 400m.
He won two gold medals at the Paralympic Games.
He was first sentenced to five years in prison in October 2014 for culpable homicide by a high court. After his prosecutors appealed that decision, the Supreme Court of Appeal found him guilty of murder in December 2015. But he had just six years when he was sentenced in July 2016, despite prosecutors asking for a minimum sentence of 15 years.
Then, in November 2017, the Supreme Court of Appeal more than doubled his sentence to 13 years and five months, describing his previous term as “shockingly lenient”.
Pistorius met Riva’s father, Barry Steenkamp, in 2022 in a “victim-offender dialogue”, an integral part of South Africa’s restorative justice system.
Based in part on how indigenous cultures handled crime long before Europeans colonized South Africa, restorative justice aims to find closure for the affected parties of a crime, rather than simply punishing the perpetrators.
He was initially denied parole in March. However, the Constitutional Court then ruled that he had served half of his sentence by March 21 and was eligible for parole after it was backdated to July 2016, when he was first convicted of murder, instead of November 2017.
(Reuters)