Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius, 37, of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa will be released on parole in January 2023. This was confirmed by prison authorities on November 24, 2023.
Pistorius was 3 years younger than Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp. He was born in Sandton, Johannesburg to Henke Pistorius and Sheila Pistorius while Steenkamp was born in Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa to Barry Steenkamp and June Steenkamp.
When Oscar was 11 months old, both of his feet were amputated due to a congenital defect. As a sprinter, he went on to become the 10th athlete to compete at both the Paralympic Games and the Olympic Games.
A paralegal and a model, Reeva became the first face of Avon Cosmetics in South Africa. In November 2012, she started dating Oscar.
On February 14, 2013, Oscar fired four shots through the door of a locked bathroom cubicle in his residence in Pretoria, Gauteng, three of which struck Reeva who was on the other side. He claimed that he thought she was an intruder hiding in the bathroom.
On March 3, 2014, Oscar’s murder trial started in the Pretoria High Court. On September 12, 2014, he was found guilty of culpable homicide and reckless endangerment but not guilty of two other firearm-related charges.
On October 21, 2014, Judge Thokozile Masipa sentenced Oscar to a maximum of fiver years in prison for culpable homicide and a concurrent three-year suspended prison sentence for reckless endangerment. On July 6, 2016, the judge changed the sentence to six years’ imprisonment for murder.
In November 2016, Oscar was transferred from the Kgosi Mampuru Jail to Atteridgeville Correctional Centre, which are both in Pretoria. On November 24, 2017, the Supreme Court of Appeal increased the sentence to 13 years and five months.
In December 2017, Oscar filed papers with the Constitutional Court to appeal the newly increased sentence, which was dismissed on March 28, 2018. On March 31, 2023, parole was denied again after an additional hearing.
In a victim impact statement, June said Reeva’s death had left a massive hole in her life that cannot be filled. A family representative read the statement outside a parole board meeting.
June said she had forgiven Oscar but she does not believe his version of events. She stated, “At this time, I am not convinced that Oscar has been rehabilitated.”
CONAN Daily 