Oscar Pistorius, a former Paralympic champion, will be released from prison on parole after killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp almost 11 years ago.
On Valentine’s Day in 2013, he shot her several times through the bathroom door. He subsequently claimed he thought she was a burglar at their Pretoria home.
A South African court sentenced the now 37-year-old Pistorius to 13 years and five months in prison in 2016.
His release date is set for January 5, 2024 by the parole board.
Pistorius will be under surveillance after being released from prison “just like all other parolees” until his sentence is officially served out. During that time, he must inform his parole officer if he plans to move or start a new job.
According to a representative for the Steenkamp family, Pistorius will also need to go to counseling sessions.
Ms. Steenkamp’s mother stated in a letter read aloud to the parole board on Friday that while she did not oppose Pistorius’s release, she questioned whether his “huge anger issues” were adequately addressed in prison. She continued by saying that she would now be “concerned for the safety of any woman” who interacted with him.
At the parole hearing at Atteridgeville prison, which is close to Pretoria, June Steenkamp declined to attend, stating that she “simply cannot muster the energy to face him again at this stage.”
Following the death of Barry, Reeva’s father, and her husband earlier this year, she said that the strain on them both had been tremendous.
“My dear Barry left this world utterly devastated by the thought that he had failed to protect his daughter… I’ve no doubt that he died of a broken heart,” Mrs Steenkamp’s statement read.
As part of the recuperation process, Barry Steenkamp had a face-to-face meeting with Oscar Pistorius last year.
Even though Mrs. Steemkamp does not think the person who killed her daughter has expressed regret, she says she chose to forgive him “long ago, as I knew most certainly that I would not be able to survive if I had to cling to my anger”.
In less than a year, Pistorius had already had two parole hearings.
He had not served out the required minimum amount of time in jail, so his first attempt at parole failed in March. The Constitutional Court of South Africa subsequently declared that to be an error, which prompted the new parole hearing.
All offenders in South Africa have the right to have their eligibility for parole reviewed after serving half of their entire sentence.
