Oscar Pistorius (36) will continue to serve his sentence for at least another year. The parole request for the former South African Paralympic champion, convicted of the murder of his partner Reeva Steenkamp, was refused on Friday, AFP learned from the lawyer for the victim’s family.
“I don’t know on what grounds the request was refused, we were only informed that it had been refused and that it would be reviewed in a year,” Tania Koen told AFP. A hearing before an ad hoc committee was held in the morning and was to inform the lawyers of the two parties after deliberation.
South African law provides that a person convicted of murder can benefit from early release once half of his sentence has elapsed. Oscar Pistorius had been eligible since July 2021. Pistorius may request a reconsideration of his application.
The victim’s mother, June Steenkamp, was present at this hearing closed to the media to expose on her behalf and that of her husband, Barry Steenkamp, the tragic consequences on their lives of the murder of their daughter.
“It will be traumatic and painful as you can imagine, explained Me Koen to the press, before the deliberations. June will have to face this morning the one who killed her daughter. For them (the parents) it’s a life sentence, they miss their daughter Reeva every day. »
“He showed no remorse and he is not rehabilitated”
They “believe that he should not be released” because “he has shown no remorse and he is not rehabilitated, because if he was he would have been honest and would have told the true story of what happened. happened that night,” she added. The lawyer had told AFP, a few days before the hearing, that the Steenkamp parents “did not expect anything in particular”, justice having to “follow its course”.
The commission was responsible for “determining whether the purpose of imprisonment has been achieved”, explained the prison administration. The behavior of the detainee, his physical and mental state as well as the risk of recidivism had to be examined.
The case goes back ten years. In the early hours of Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2013, Pistorius fired a gun through his bedroom bathroom door. The 29-year-old model, who came to spend the night at his home in Pretoria, was shot four times.
Rich, famous, the six-time Paralympic champion had entered the legend of sport a year earlier by aligning himself with the able-bodied in the 400 meters at the London Olympics, a first for a double amputee. “Blade Runner”, his nickname in reference to his carbon prostheses in the shape of feline paws, was arrested in the early morning. He pleads a mistake, explains that he believed that a burglar had managed to break into his ultra-secure residence.
During his trial at first instance, broadcast live on television for eight months in 2014, the ex-star appeared in tears, even vomiting when reading the autopsy report. He was sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter. In 2017, at the 3rd instance, the Supreme Court of Appeal sentenced Pistorius to 13 years and 5 months in prison.