Pistorius released from jail almost eleven years after murder of girlfriend

This was the second time Pistorius had requested parole, having been denied the previous March.

Famous South African athletes oscar pistoriusHe has been in jail since 2014 for murdering his girlfriend, a model, a year ago. Reeva Steenkamp, Department of Correctional Services (DCS) confirmed this, he was released from jail after getting parole. South Africa.

“The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) confirms that oscar pistorius “He is up for parole effective January 5, 2024. He was admitted to the community jail system and is now at home,” the organization said in a statement.

Jail officials granted conditional release pistorius During a closed-door hearing in jail on November 24 Atteridgeville, Pretoria,

The DCS indicated that, despite the athlete’s “high public profile”, the “usual conditions” of that regime would apply to him, such as, for example, “staying at home at certain times of the day.”

The agency said, “He will not be able to consume alcohol or other substances. (…) Like other people on parole, Pistorius is prohibited from giving interviews with the media.” Sentence in 2029.

In a statement reported by local media, the mother of the murdered model said, june steenkampSaid this Friday that the pain over her daughter’s death is still “raw and real” and regretted that “the intensity of the (media) coverage of the trial” and subsequent parole requests meant the “loss” of her privacy and “Made it difficult to grieve peacefully.

“We have always known that probation is part of the South African legal system and we have always said that the law should take its course,” he said. steenkampHowever he stressed that “justice can never be served if your loved one never returns.”

“The conditions imposed by the Parole Board, which include anger management courses and programs on gender violence, send a clear message that gender violence is taken seriously,” she said.

this was the second time pistorius He requested conditional release, which was denied last March despite the fact that the convicted man argued that his prison time and the minimum amount required to qualify for that measure were unfairly increased. Thus his “fundamental rights” were violated.

pistorius37, then took his case to the Constitutional Court of South Africa, which ruled last October that the athlete was eligible for parole.

Before the November hearing began, where he was ultimately granted permission, june steenkamp She said she was not “convinced” that “oscar Has been rehabilitated,” according to a letter read by his lawyers.

Pistorius is serving a sentence for the shooting death of 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp in her Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day 2013, when he was at the height of his fame and had amassed a fortune from his sporting career.

He shot her four times through the closed bathroom door and tried unsuccessfully to defend herself until he panicked when he mistook the model for a burglar who had entered the house through the bathroom window.

“I do not believe this version oscar (…) I don’t know anyone who does that. “My dear daughter screamed so loudly to save her life that the neighbors could hear,” the victim’s mother wrote in her letter last November.

He did not witness the release from prison this Friday of Pistorius, however, the father of murdered model Barry Steenkamp, ​​who died aged 80 last September.

After a trial that attracted worldwide media attention, Pistorius was initially sentenced to five years in prison for murder in October 2014, but the prosecutor’s office appealed the verdict.

In 2015, South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal overturned that conviction and found him guilty of murder, sending the case back to a lower court, which sentenced Pistorius to six years in prison for murder in July 2016.

However, following a further appeal by the Prosecutor’s Office, the Supreme Court of Appeal increased the sentence to fifteen years in November 2017, the minimum sentence set by law in murder cases except in exceptional circumstances.

In practice, that sentence meant thirteen years and five months in prison, which Pistorius – who had already spent on bail and a period under house arrest – had already spent in prison.

Born with a genetic problem, Pistorius’ parents decided to amputate both of his legs below the knees when he was eleven months old. Pistorius achieved global fame by running on two carbon prostheses at the London Olympic Games (2012) .