Paralympian Oscar Pistorius will be released on parole 11 years after killing girlfriend
Kyiv • UNN
Oscar Pistorius, a former Paralympic champion, will be released on parole in January 2024, having served part of his sentence for the 2013 murder of Reeva Steenkamp. After his release, he will be under supervision and will be required to attend therapy sessions
Former Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius is to be released from prison on parole almost 11 years after the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, UNN reports citing the BBC.
Details
As the publication reminds, he shot her several times through the bathroom door on Valentine's Day in 2013, later claiming that he mistook her for a burglar in their home in Pretoria.
Pistorius, now 37, was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison by a South African court in 2016.
The Parole Board has scheduled his release for January 5, 2024.
After his release, Pistorius will be under government supervision until his sentence officially ends, "just like all other parolees," the country's Department of Corrections said on Friday.
According to a spokesman for the Stenkamp family, he will also have to attend therapy sessions.
In a letter read to the parole board during Friday's hearing, Stenkamp's mother said she did not object to his release, but questioned whether Pistorius' "tremendous anger issues" were being addressed in prison. She added that she would "fear for the safety of any woman" who came into contact with him.
This was Pistorius' second parole hearing in less than a year.
His first application for parole was rejected in March because he had not served the minimum period of detention. The South African Constitutional Court later found this to be an error, leading to a new parole hearing.
Addendum
Oscar Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in their Pretoria home 10 years ago.
Steenkamp had been in a relationship with Pistorius for three months when he fired four shots from a handgun into the bathroom door of their Pretoria home in the early morning hours of February 14, 2013.
She died almost instantly.
He was convicted of murder in 2015 by the Supreme Court of Appeal, having initially been found guilty of a lesser offense.
Pistorius' legs were amputated when he was less than a year old. He subsequently resorted to prosthetics and became a world-renowned athlete known as a "blade runner".
He won several gold medals at the Paralympic Games. He also competed against athletes without disabilities at the 2012 London Olympics.
The murder of Reeva Steenkamp just six months later and the subsequent court hearings made headlines around the world.
