Former South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius denied parole

JOHANNESBURG

Former South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, jailed for the murder of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, has been denied parole, the Department of Correctional Services said Friday.

After Pistorius appeared before the Parole Board at Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in the capital Pretoria on Friday, the board said he has not completed the minimum detention period as ruled by the Supreme Court of Appeal. His next chance is in August 2024.

The athlete killed his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2013, when he fired a handgun four times through a locked bathroom door in his home in Pretoria.

In 2017 the Supreme Court of Appeal increased Pistorius's sentence from five to over 13 years for Steenkamp’s murder.

After being convicted of manslaughter in 2014, he had his conviction overturned in 2015 on appeal after which he was released on parole after just a year in prison.

June Steenkamp, the mother of Reeva, on Friday told reporters at Atteridgeville Correctional Centre that the athlete has not shown remorse for his actions.

“It’s going to be very hard to be in the same room as him … I don’t believe his story, I don’t,” she told reporters.

'Not rehabilitated'

Tania Koen, a lawyer for the Steenkamp family, also told reporters: “He is not rehabilitated because if he had been he would have come clean and told the true story of what happened that night.”

When asked by a reporter how it will feel for Reeva Steenkamp's mother to see Pistorius at the parole hearing she said: “It’s a very traumatic experience; as you can imagine. It’s painful, June Steenkamp has to face Oscar Pistorius again this morning.”

“He is the killer of her daughter, for them it’s a life sentence, (but) Pistorius is eligible to be considered for placement on parole. They don’t feel he should be released,” she said.

Koen said the Supreme Court of Appeal found that Pistorius has not divulged everything that happened the night when he killed Reeva, a stance the family shares.

“Unless he comes clean they feel he is not rehabilitated. Ten years to us sounds so long in time, but to them it’s 10 missed birthdays, 10 Mother’s Days, Father’s Days, Christmases, so time hasn’t healed for them. They miss her every day,” she said.

The double-amputee, known as Blade Runner for his athletic achievements on prosthetic legs, has maintained that he mistook his girlfriend for an intruder when he opened fire at their home in Pretoria.

Pistorius won a gold medal at the Athens Paralympics Games at age 17, turning him into a national hero. In 2012, he became the first amputee runner to compete in the Olympics.