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Oscar Pistorius has won parole and will be a free man, a court has ruled.
The double-amputee athlete, who competed at the London Olympics in 2012, has been behind bars since late 2014 after being convicted of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day in 2013.
Initially, he was convicted of culpable homicide – an offence which is similar to manslaughter – after Steenkamp was shot multiple times through a closed toilet cubicle door at their home in Petoria, South Africa.
READ MORE:Oscar Pistorius' life in prison – gang beatings, bushy beard look, meeting with Reeva's dad
READ MORE: 10 famous sports stars who went to prison – from cocaine scandals to assaults and murder
But his conviction was upgraded to murder and he was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison after a series of appeals by prosecutors.
Pistorius was denied parole in March earlier this year, but it was since determined that the verdict was incorrect. South Africa’s department of corrections said in a statement earlier this week that a parole board would again consider the former Paralympian’s case again this week and decide “whether the inmate is suitable or not for social integration”.
And it was announced on Friday (November 24) that he will be released from custody on Friday January 5, 2024. A statement added: "Classified as a first time offender with a positive support system, Oscar Pistorius' parole placement is in line with Section 73 of the Correctional Services Act.
"Parole placement forms part of the total rehabilitation programme in correcting offending behaviour and may include continuation of programmes aimed at reintegration whilst in the system of community corrections.
"Mr Pistorius will complete the remainder of the sentence in the system of community corrections and will be subjected to supervision in compliance with parole conditions until his sentence expires."
Pistorius’ family and legal team were reportedly confident ahead of the hearing that he would be freed. The parole board took several factors into account, including his conduct and disciplinary record in prison, his mental health and the likelihood of him committing another crime.
The options for Pistorius were that he could have been released on full parole, day parole (where he would have to return to prison at night but had permission to work and live his life as a free man during the day) or to remain in prison.
Pistorius claimed he shot Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, by mistake because he thought she was a dangerous intruder. He has barely been seen over the last decade, although there have been occasional glimpses of his time in prison.
He sustained an injury in an altercation with another inmate over a prison telephone in 2017. A year earlier, he received treatment for injuries to his wrists, which his family denied were a result of him harming himself and said were caused by him falling in his cell.
Pistorius was also said to have adopted a radical new look. His former school headteacher, Bill Schroder, has visited the South African occasionally in prison. He told The Sun in 2020 that Pistorius has grown a bushy beard while his weight had ballooned.
“What he really, really wants is forgiveness,” said Mr Schroder. “I said to him that if he had killed my daughter I doubt I would forgive him.
“He is more concerned about forgiveness than actually getting out on parole. In fact, he has a real fear about getting parole as he knows there’ll be a backlash.”
Pistorius has reportedly given up on all exercise and even taken up smoking, completely changing his complexion and making him unrecognisable from when he first went to jail.
Another of his prison visitors over the years has included Steenkamp’s father, Barry, as part of the South Africa Victim-Offender Dialogue programme. However, it wasn’t a successful meeting.
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He told ITV earlier this year: “I'm sure that he did have remorse after shooting Reeva… I asked him certain questions, all June [Reeva's mother] and I wanted to know is the truth – and we think that is that he killed her out of anger.
"I cut our chat short, because I didn't get the answers I wanted. It was very traumatising for me and June who wasn't there. We feel it's not true, the version that he gave."
- Olympics
- Oscar Pistorius
- Murder
- Breaking News
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