Six-time Paralympic sprint champion South African track and field athlete Oscar Pistorius has been released. He spent more than seven years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The athlete was released on parole.
South African media did not include details about the conditions of Pistorius’ release. It is known that he will be under the supervision of parole officers and cannot leave Gauteng province, where the athlete’s hometown Pretoria is located, without permission. He will also need to take anger management classes.
Where it all begins
The tragedy occurred on the night of February 14, 2013. Pistorius shot his girlfriend to death through the toilet door of his home in Pretoria. He claimed in court that he mistakenly mistook the girl for a robber at night, and it looked like the intruders had broken into the house.
“I brought fans from the balcony early in the morning. Then I talked to Reva, who was next to me in bed. I didn’t know that he then went to the toilet in the bathroom. But there I heard the window opening.
“I assumed an intruder or intruders had entered the house through a window not protected by bars.”
– Pistorius told the court.
The athlete emphasized that he was wearing a prosthesis at that moment and was aware that he was physically unable to protect himself. So he fired four shots at the door.
Hearing and first decision
The prosecution did not find the athlete’s allegations convincing and insisted on premeditated murder. According to the couple’s neighbor Estelle van der Merwe, she heard voices at night, one of which was a woman; According to him, Steenkamp and Pistorius were working things out out loud. And after three in the morning he heard explosions that may have been gunshots. Several other witnesses also reported shots being fired and a man screaming for help.
The trial lasted more than a year and a half. During this time, case materials accumulated to over 400 pages.
Pistorius was initially sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. However, the court concluded that the athlete was not guilty of premeditated murder.
In October 2014, Pistorius’ defense recommended that he be sentenced to three years of house arrest, while prosecutor Jerry Nel insisted that the maximum possible sentence could not exceed 15 years, given the athlete’s innocence of premeditated murder. He later softened the demands, stating that Oscar should be sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Judge Thokozile Masipa gave an even more lenient verdict. Pistorius was sentenced to 5 years in prison. He described the incident as the result of negligence and reminded the case law regarding the degree of fault in negligence, reminding that the consequences cannot be predicted.
“A reasonable person in the position of a similarly disabled defendant would have predicted that the person behind the door could be killed by gunfire and would have taken the necessary steps to avoid that.”
– the judge expressed his opinion.
Pistorius was also given a three-year suspended prison sentence for violating the firearms law. The girl’s family’s lawyer said Steenkamp’s relatives were satisfied with the decision and found it fair.
Objection and new era
According to this sentence, Pistorius would serve one year in prison and be released on parole on October 20, 2015. He would spend the remaining four years under house arrest in his uncle’s house. However, the state attorney’s office objected and the court returned the case.
In December, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the prosecutor’s appeal and ordered the lower court to impose a new sentence on the athlete. The athlete’s defense filed an appeal, which the South African Constitutional Court rejected in March 2016.
A new decision was announced in July 2016. According to him, the prison sentence was increased to six years, but this was not the final decision.
After Pistorius was transferred from a regular prison to a detention center for disabled people in Atteridgeville, the appeals court increased the sentence to 13 years and 5 months in November 2017.
However, it is unclear at what point Pistorius may apply for parole. The first attempt to achieve this was made in November 2021 and was rejected in March 2023. The athlete’s defense continued to fight for parole, as a result of which it was announced that he would still be released from prison in November. Pistorius was released on January 5, 2024.
Pistorius’ release conditions
As with the first sentence, Pistorius will spend the remainder of his sentence under house arrest at his uncle’s house. As reported in the local media, the dead girl’s mother, June Steenkamp, did not object to the athlete’s parole. At the same time, he repeatedly stated that he did not believe the version that he shot at a man whom he mistook for a robber. He emphasized that he forgave Pistorius a long time ago and that, in his opinion, he would not be able to live if he continued his anger.
“My daughter was screaming loud enough for the neighbors to hear, struggling to survive.
I don’t know what influenced his decision to shoot someone four times through a closed door, but I believe he knew it was Reva.
I don’t know what rehabilitation programs Oscar attended while in prison, but I sincerely hope that those programs included psychotherapy to help him recover from his abusive behavior towards women. I also hope that experts will be involved in compiling his psychological profile, which will help determine the degree of risk of recurrence of the disease. “I’m not sure his rehabilitation is complete anymore,” says June.
The woman added that her husband, Barry, died in September 2023, knowing that he could not protect his daughter. “She had only one hope: that Oscar would find the strength to tell the truth,” Reva Steenkamp’s mother concluded.