FILE – Oscar Pistorius leaves the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, following his sentencing proceedings on June 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Themba Hedebe, File)
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, a two-legged amputee who became a global star while competing at the highest level of his sport while running on carbon-fiber blades, has been sentenced to nearly nine years for his murder. He was released from jail on Friday after serving his sentence. Girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp.
Corrections department spokesman Singabakho Nxumalo told The Associated Press that Pistorius, 37, quietly walked away from Pretoria’s Atteridgeville Correctional Center and was processed at the parole office before being released to his family. Nxumalo, who described Pistorius’ release as an “operation” designed to avoid a media fuss, declined to give further details.
“I can only tell you that he was released this morning,” Nxumalo said.
Pistorius served nearly nine years of his murder sentence of 13 years and five months for the fatal shooting of Steenkamp at her home on Valentine’s Day 2013. He became eligible for early release after serving at least half his sentence, and was approved for parole in November. ,
Pistorius will remain under strict parole conditions until his sentence ends in December 2029, including a ban on speaking to the media. He is expected to initially live in his uncle’s mansion in the upscale Pretoria suburb of Waterkloof, where he stayed during his tenure. Seven-month trial in 2014.
There was a police van outside that house and later on Friday a police officer was seen coming out. The official declined to comment to reporters. Three black private security vehicles were also parked in front of the mansion.
After being separated from his father, Pistorius and his brother and sister grew up under the care of their uncle and aunt, Arnold and Lois Pistorius. Pistorius’s mother died when he was a teenager. Arnold Pistorius is seen leaving the house, accompanied by Pistorius’ sister Amy
Pistorius’s trial attracted media crowds from around the world, and even though corrections officials had warned ahead of time that he would not be “paraded” in front of cameras upon his release, a few dozen journalists, photographers and TV cameras outside They were camping in jail in the hope of seeing him released.
Pistorius says he shot Steenkamp, 29, in the middle of the night, mistaking him for a dangerous intruder hiding in the bathroom of his Pretoria villa. He fired four shots through the closed door of the toilet room, hitting Steenkamp in the head, hip and arm. He claimed that he had fired in self-defense and that he did not know that his girlfriend was in the chamber. Prosecutors alleged at his trial that he intentionally killed her in a fit of rage during a late-night argument.
In addition to her career as a model, Steenkamp was a reality TV star and law graduate and became an activist against violence against women in South Africa, a tragedy that led to her own death. She and Pistorius had been dating for only a few months.
Steenkamp’s mother, June Steenkamp, said in a statement Friday that she had accepted Pistorius’ parole, although the pain of her daughter’s death “is still raw and real.” Steenkamp’s father, Barry Steenkamp, died last year.
“Has Reeva got justice? Has Oscar served enough time? There can never be justice if your loved one is never coming back, and no amount of time will bring Riva back,” June Steenkamp said. “Those of us left behind are serving life sentences.”
“With Oscar Pistorius’s release on parole, my only wish is that I will be allowed to live out my final years in peace while focusing my attention on the Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp Foundation to continue Reeva’s legacy.”
The Department of Corrections has stressed that the champion Paralympic runner’s release, like every other criminal on parole, does not mean he has completed his sentence.
Pistorius’s parole conditions include restrictions on being allowed to leave the house, a ban on drinking alcohol, and orders that he must attend programs on anger management and violence against women. He will also have to do community service.
Pistorius will also have to meet regularly with parole officers and face unannounced visits by authorities. He is not allowed to leave the Waterkloof district without permission and is not allowed to speak to the media until the end of his sentence. If he violates any of the parole conditions he can be sent back to jail.
South Africa does not use monitoring devices on parole. But the Department of Corrections said a parole officer would constantly monitor Pistorius, who would have to inform the officer about any major changes in his life, such as whether he wanted to get a job or change address.
In 2014 his lead defense lawyer said that Pistorius, once a wealthy athlete who drove sports cars and fancy motorcycles and was endorsed by Nike, was broke after his lengthy murder trial. He sold the house where he murdered Steenkamp to pay some of his legal bills. ,
Steenkamp’s family did not oppose his parole application in November, although June Steenkamp then said that she did not believe Pistorius had been fully rehabilitated and that he was still lying about the shooting.
Before the murder, Pistorius was seen as an inspirational role model, as both his legs were amputated below the knee due to a congenital disease in childhood. He became a champion runner on his carbon-fibre running blades and made history by competing against non-disabled athletes at the 2012 London Olympics.
His murder trial destroyed his image. He was charged with outbursts of anger and careless handling of guns, while witnesses testified about his disputes with others, including an argument in which he allegedly broke a man’s leg. Had threatened.
Pistorius was first convicted of culpable homicide – a charge equivalent to manslaughter – and sentenced to five years in prison for Steenkamp’s murder. After appeals by prosecutors, he was ultimately found guilty of murder and his sentence was increased, although the Supreme Court of Appeal’s decision still did not definitively rule that he knew Steenkamp was behind the bathroom door.
Pistorius was first sent to prison in 2014, released on home arrest pending an appeal in 2015, and then sent back to prison in 2016. He was initially imprisoned in the maximum security Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria, but was initially transferred to Atteridgeville. His punishment because it is better suited to house prisoners with disabilities.
The reaction to Pistorius’ parole in South Africa has been slow, with angry protests outside the court in the first days and months after Steenkamp’s murder and calls for him to be given a longer prison sentence. There is no death penalty in South Africa.
“He has ticked all the necessary boxes,” said Themba Masango, secretary general of Not in My Name International, a group that campaigns against violence against women. “And we can only wish and hope that Oscar Pistorius emerges a better man.”
“We forget that there is a possibility where someone can be rehabilitated.”
(Copyright 2024 The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)
