South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius Denied Parole Decade After Killing Girlfriend

 

South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius was denied parole on Friday, a decade after he shot and killed his girlfriend, according to lawyers and authorities.

According to the Department of Correctional Services, a parole board determined that Pistorius had not served the minimum detention period required for release.

“We were… advised at this point in time that it has been denied” and it will be considered again in one year’s time, Tania Koen, a lawyer for the victim’s family, told AFP.

The motivation was unexpected because the corrections services had previously stated that Pistorius was eligible for early release after serving more than half of his sentence.

Pistorius murdered model Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013, firing four times through the bathroom door of his ultra-secure Pretoria home, shocking the world.

A parole hearing began Friday morning at the 36-year-detention old’s facility on the outskirts of the capital.

Steenkamp’s parents welcomed the decision, saying they do not believe the ex-athlete told the truth about what happened and has not shown remorse.

“While we welcome today’s decision, today is not a cause for celebration. We miss Reeva terribly and will do so for the rest of our lives. We believe in justice and hope that it continues to prevail,” they said in a statement via their lawyer.

Earlier, Steenkamp’s mother, June, had made the couple’s position known to the board addressing the hearing in person.

“I don’t believe his story,” she told journalists from the back of a car as she arrived at the correctional facility.

She did not meet face to face with her daughter’s killer on Friday, as the parole board decided to hear the two separately, Koen later told reporters outside the prison.

“It was very unpleasant for her… but she knew that she had to do it for Reeva,” Koen said.

Steenkamp’s father Barry was unable to travel because of ill health but submitted a statement, she added.

“Before he dies he has one wish and that’s Oscar would just tell us exactly what happened that night,” Carmen Dodd, who read the statement to the board, told journalists.

 ‘Minimum detention period’ 

Comprising at least three people, including prison services and community members, the board was to determine whether the purpose of imprisonment had been served, according to the Department of Correctional Services.

“The (board) granted inmate Pistorius a further profile for August 2024,” correctional services spokesman Singabakho Nxumalo said in a statement.

“The reason provided is that the inmate did not complete the minimum Detention Period as ruled by the Supreme Court of Appeal.”

In a short memo dated Tuesday and seen by AFP on Friday, the court explained that the prison term it imposed started on the day of the last judgement in 2017 and not when Pistorius was first sentenced in 2014.

Prisoners in South Africa are automatically eligible for parole consideration after serving half of their sentence.

Known worldwide as the “Blade Runner” for his carbon-fibre prosthetics, Pistorius was found guilty of murder and given a 13-year jail sentence in 2017 after a lengthy trial and several appeals.

He had pleaded not guilty and denied killing Steenkamp in a rage, saying he mistook her for a burglar.

Pistorius met with Steenkamp’s parents last year, part of a process that authorities say aims to ensure inmates “acknowledge the harm they have caused to their victims and the society at large”.

Koen described the meeting as “very emotional” and “traumatic”.

A year before killing Steenkamp, Pistorius became the first double-amputee to race in the Olympics, competing at the 2012 London Games.

He became a household name worldwide and courted by sponsors, but it all came crashing down after the killing.

Inmates have the right to approach the courts for review when parole is denied.

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