CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius could be granted parole on Friday after spending nearly 10 years in prison in South Africa for murder.
The double-amputee Olympic runner was one of the world's most admired athletes before he killed his girlfriend by shooting her multiple times through a toilet door at his home on Valentine's Day 2013.
Pistorius, who turned 37 this week, was sent to prison in late 2014. He has been given a second chance at parole in the space of eight months after he was wrongly ruled ineligible for early release at a first hearing in March. That was due to an error made by an appeals court over when the sentence officially started.
Pistorius was initially convicted of culpable homicide — a charge comparable to manslaughter — for killing Reeva Steenkamp. That conviction was overturned and he was convicted of murder after an appeal by prosecutors. They also appealed against an initial sentence of six years for murder, and Pistorius was ultimately sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison.
Serious offenders in South Africa must serve at least half their sentence to be eligible for parole, which Pistorius has done.
“All I can say is that the programs that were contained in his correctional sentence plan were all completed,” Department of Corrections spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo told reporters Friday ahead of the hearing, which was due to take place at the Pretoria prison where Pistorius is being held. “It is now up to the parole board.”
Pistorius testified at his murder trial that he killed Steenkamp by mistake, thinking she was a dangerous intruder hiding in his bathroom in the middle of the night when he fired four times through the door with his licensed 9mm pistol. Prosecutors argued that Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and reality TV star, had fled to the toilet cubicle during a late-night argument and Pistorius killed her in a rage.
Pistorius was eventually convicted of murder on a legal principle known as dolus eventualis, which means he acted with extreme recklessness and should have known that whoever was behind the door would likely be killed. It's comparable to third-degree murder.
Steenkamp’s father, Barry Steenkamp, died in September. Her mother, June Steenkamp, will not oppose Pistorius’ parole.
Rob Matthews, a South African man whose 21-year-old daughter was murdered in 2004 and who became a Steenkamp family friend, read out a statement from June Steenkamp outside the prison in which she said she was not opposing his parole and didn’t attend the hearing because “I simply cannot muster the energy to face him again at this stage.”
Nevertheless, “I do not believe Oscar’s version that he thought the person in the toilet was a burglar,” June Steenkamp said in the statement. “In fact, I do not know anybody who does. My dearest child screamed for her life. ... I believe he knew it was Reeva."
South African parole boards take a wide range of factors into account, including the offender’s conduct in prison, their mental health and any risk posed to the community by their release. They also have various versions of parole available to them. Pistorius could be released on full parole or day parole, where he can live and work in the community but must return to prison at night.
The Department of Corrections has said if Pistorius is granted parole, he might not be released immediately and it is up to the parole board “to work out the placement date."
If released, he is expected to live at his uncle's luxurious mansion in a wealthy Pretoria suburb, where he stayed during his murder trial.
Pistorius was initially sent to Pretoria’s central prison, a notorious apartheid-era jail. He was moved to the city’s Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in 2016.
There have been only occasional glimpses of Pistorius’ life behind bars over the past decade. His father has said he has been holding bible classes for fellow prisoners, although there have also been flashes of trouble, including an altercation Pistorius had with another inmate over a prison telephone that left him requiring medical treatment.
Steenkamp's killing happened when Pistorius was at the height of his fame and just months after he had become the first double-amputee to compete at the Olympics. He was also a multiple Paralympic sprinting champion and one of sport's most marketable figures, having overcome the amputation of both his legs below the knee as a baby to run on specially designed carbon-fiber blades.
At his sensational trial, prosecutors argued there was another side to Pistorius' life that involved guns and angry confrontations with others. Pistorius was also found guilty of a second charge of recklessly firing a gun in a restaurant.
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