South Africa: Oscar Pistorius granted parole after murder

South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius was granted an early release from prison Friday, a decade after he killed his girlfriend.

A parole board at a correctional center outside Pretoria where he is currently being held approved his release from January 5, 2024.

"The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) confirms parole placement for Mr Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius, effectively from 5 January 2024," a DCS spokesman said.

Known as the "Blade Runner" for his carbon-fiber prosthetic legs, Pistorius went from a public hero to a convicted killer in a 2014 trial that caught the world's attention.

What happened on Valentine's Day 2013?

Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp, a professional model, in the early hours of Valentine's Day 2013, firing four times through the bathroom door of his ultra-secure Pretoria house.

The athlete had pleaded not guilty and denied killing Steenkamp in a rage, saying he mistook her for a dangerous intruder, hiding in the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Prosecutors argued that Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and reality TV star, had fled to the toilet cubicle during a late-night argument and Pistorius killed her in a rage.

He was initially jailed for five years for culpable homicide, a charge comparable to manslaughter.

But in late 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeal found him guilty of murder and he returned to jail for six years.

A year later, the Supreme Court more than doubled his sentence to 13 years and five months, saying his original jail term was "shockingly lenient".

Steenkamp's mother against parole

The mother of Steenkamp told the parole board in a written victim impact statement that the Paralympic champion has "not been rehabilitated."

"Rehabilitation requires someone to engage honestly, with the full truth of his crime and the consequences thereof. Nobody can claim to have remorse if they're not able to engage fully with the truth," June Steenkamp wrote in her statement.

But the statement, read by a family friend outside the prison on Friday, said she would not oppose his parole.

"I simply cannot muster the energy to face him again at this stage." Nevertheless, "I do not believe Oscar's version that he thought the
person in the toilet was a burglar ... In fact, I do not know anybody who does. My dearest child screamed for her life. ... I believe he knew it was Reeva."

Pistorius met Steenkamp's parents last year as part of his rehabilitation.

First parole attempt denied

Serious offenders in South Africa must serve at least half their sentence to be eligible for parole.

Friday's hearing was Pistorius' second attempt at parole in less than eight months. 

He lost a first bid in March when the board found he had not completed the minimum detention period required to be let out.

But the Constitutional Court last month ruled that was a mistake, paving the way for a new hearing.

His lawyers said they hoped the ex-athlete would be granted "an immediate release." However, the process often takes weeks and usually comes with conditions.

Killing took place at height of Pistorius' fame     

Months before the killing, Pistorius had become the first double amputee to compete at the Olympics and a multiple Paralympic sprinting champion.

Having overcome the amputation of both his legs below the knee as a baby to run on specially designed carbon-fiber blades, his sporting prowess was easily marketable.

The killing saw sponsors cut ties and mounting legal bills forced him to sell his properties.

The high-profile murder trial exposed his darker side: with the prosecution portraying him as a dangerously volatile man with a love of guns, women and fast cars.

In 2009, he allegedly assaulted a 19-year-old woman at a party in a case that was settled out of court.

Two years later, he was accused of firing a gun through the sunroof of an ex-girlfriend's moving car.

Weeks before he shot Steenkamp, he fired a gun by accident at a restaurant in Johannesburg.

He also kept a pistol under his bed at his high-security home for fear of being robbed.

mm/ab (AFP, AP, Reuters)