Pistorius to be released on parole a year into jail term for killing girlfriend

Oscar Pistorius is to be released from prison next week and placed under house arrest just a year after being jailed for killing his girlfriend. The Olympic and Paralympic track star will be freed from his five-year term on Tuesday, South Africa’s department of correctional services said in a statement. The decision has dismayed relatives of his girlfriend, model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp; they say a year in prison is not long enough for someone who took a life.

They say nothing has changed in their lives, Reeva is still not coming back. Whether Mr Pistorius remains incarcerated or whether he is released, Reeva isn’t coming back so it doesn’t make a difference to them

Barry and June Steenkamp’s attorney Tania Koen

Ms Steenkamp died when Pistorius, now 28, fired four 9mm shots through a locked toilet door at his gated home on Valentine’s Day in 2013. He was found guilty of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter, in September 2014 after a seven-month trial. Pistorius, nicknamed Blade Runner because of his carbon-fibre prosthetics, claimed he mistook her for a burglar. The Paralympic gold medalist was due to have been released on parole in August after serving 10 months. But justice minister Michael Masutha blocked the move, saying the parole hearing was held prematurely. Prosecutors are appealing the homicide verdict next month, saying he should have been convicted of murder.

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