The South African athlete Oscar Pistorius, who is serving a sentence for murdering his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp in 2013, will be eligible for parole as of March 2023, as ruled by a South African court.
The news was confirmed by the legal representative of the victim’s family, lawyer Tania Koen, who pointed out that the news is especially unfortunate for the Steenkamps because they met a few days before the anniversary of the murder (February 14), as reported this Monday the local IOL portal.
The new date for Pistorius to be a candidate for parole was determined by the Supreme Court of Appeals of South Africa, correcting a previous verdict that had not taken into account the 506 days that the athlete had previously served in prison.
This means that the broker could be eligible for the privilege of parole just a decade after the murder.
The final word on his release will, however, be with the South African Government Department of Correctional Services.
“I trust that the department sees their situation with favorable eyes,” said the athlete’s father, Henke Pistorius.
The government body in charge of the prison system, for now, has limited itself to remembering that all prisoners in South Africa have the right to request conditional release after having served a minimum sentence, but that “does not guarantee” that it will be granted.
“It is a privilege that must be earned by following our prescriptions and, ultimately, by the degree of readiness for social reintegration,” Singabakho Nxumalo, a spokesman for the department, explained in a statement.
Pistorius, 34, is serving a 15-year jail sentence for shooting and killing his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, at her Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day 2013.
He shot him four times through the closed bathroom door and, during the trial, tried unsuccessfully to defend that he panicked after mistaking Steenkamp for a burglar who had entered the house through the bathroom window.
He was initially sentenced to six years in prison, as the judge considered that extenuating circumstances existed, but, following an appeal from the Prosecutor’s Office, the Supreme Court of South Africa raised the sentence in November 2017 to fifteen years, the minimum contemplated by South African law. in murder cases.
The conditions for the parole of that sentence are those that have now been revised, since the court had made the mistake of not counting 506 days that Pistorius had already served.
The correction was formalized with an administrative order issued by the Supreme Court of Appeals on January 21, but has now been made public.
Pistorius, born with a genetic problem that led his parents to decide to amputate both his legs below the knees when he was 11 months old, achieved world fame by running at the London Olympics in 2012 on two carbon prostheses.
