Oscar Pistorius released on parole

Nearly 11 years after his imprisonment, former Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was released on parole, South Africa’s Department of Corrections said Friday.

In a statement the Department said it was “able to confirm that Oscar Pistorius is a parolee, effectively from 5 January 2024. He was admitted into the system of Community Corrections and is now at home,” the said. 

The disgraced double-amputee athlete was imprisoned after he fatally shot his girlfriend, model and law school graduate Reeva Steenkamp, 29, on Feb. 14, 2013. Pistorius maintained that he shot Steenkamp, by mistake, believing it to be an intruder, hiding in his bathroom, and that he shot with a licensed firearm in self-defence. 

Prosecutors however, charged that Pistorius shot Steenkamp deliberately following a late-night argument. 

Steenkamp’s family said that they accepted the parole as part of South African law. However, the victim’s mother June Steenkamp in a victim statement submitted to the parole board  stated that she didn’t believe Pistorius had been fully rehabilitated and was still lying about the killing.