Disgraced Paralympian Oscar Pistorius could be a free man if his bid for parole release is approved later this month.
UPDATE: Following lengthy deliberations, the corrections department refused Oscar Pistorius parole on the basis that he “did not complete the minimum detention period as ruled by the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA).”
According to the SCA, since Pistorius was sentenced to 13 years and five months for murdering Reeva Steenkamp on 24 November 2017, while, at the time, he had already spent a year and seven months behind bars, the correct parole eligibility date falls on August 2024.
Pistorius’ lawyers will appeal the parole decision.
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UPDATE: On Friday, 31 March 2023, Oscar Pistorius will appear before the parole board in Pretoria, in a bid for conditional release after serving 10 years for killing Reeva Steenkamp. We will provide updates as soon as they are available.
See below for a detailed breakdown of Pistorius’ parole journey.
Oscar Pistorius parole release: Killer speedster set for hearing in March 2023
More than a decade after killing his girlfriend and one of South Africa’s most promising supermodels Reeva Steenkamp, Pistorius could set foot outside the prison yard on conditional release if his parole is approved on Friday, 31 March 2023.
After years of persistent lobbying by Pistorius’ attorney, Julian Knight, it seems the corrections department has finally recognised its culpability in an epic mix-up that may see the woman killer paroled a year before his initial eligibility period.
In 2014, Pistorius skirted the murder charge and was, instead, convicted and sentenced to a five-year prison term for culpable homicide. A year later, the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA) overturned Judge Thokozile Masipa’s initial ruling and upgraded the charge to murder.
By then, he had served a year in prison and three months on parole. Following a series of appeals by the state, Pistorius was re-sentenced to six years for the murder of Steenkamp on 6 July 2016.
The Paralympian’s murder conviction would be revised yet again and, in 2017, he was sentenced to 13 years and five months imprisonment.
One of the key prerequisites for parole eligibility considers the amount of time the prisoner has served, which, by standard, is half of the imposed term.
In this case, Pistorius would have only been eligible for parole in 2024 had the corrections department not mixed up its logs on the exact duration of the Paralympian’s prison term.
However, Pistorius’ lawyer conjured miracles and later this month, the disgraced athlete may have a chance at getting out on parole.
From what we understand, Pistorius has been held at a correctional facility in Gqeberha since June 2022 as part of a rehabilitation process, where the convicted killer comes face-to-face with the family of the victim before he gets a parole date.
As reported by Tshisa Live, Tania Koen, the attorney representing the Reeva family, confirmed they were aware of Pistorius’ impending parole hearing.
“We were notified by the department of correctional services about the parole hearing. We also note Pistorius, like any offender, is entitled to parole after serving a certain portion of his sentence. That is all we can say on the matter,” Koen said.
