He South African athlete Oscar Pistorius, serving a prison sentence for murdering his model girlfriend in 2013. Reeva Steenkamptomorrow he will be submitted for a hearing to the committee, which will assess whether to award him parole.
Pistorius, 36, is expected to appear before a parole board Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Center in Pretoria at a hearing which, according to today’s local media reports, should in principle be held behind closed doors.
The committee – which includes representatives from the prison service, police and civilians – will decide whether the Paralympian is eligible for parole after serving half of his 15-year sentence.
“The minimum period of detention that a prisoner must serve is an important milestone in the rehabilitation process for those in our care, as it also serves as the main point for parole consideration, and this must be done at the right time,” he explained at the end of last October. the spokesperson of the South African Department of Prison Services, Singabakho Nxumaloabout the “Pistorius case”.
The board’s decision is expected in the coming days, after the board’s deliberations.
Last year, Pistorius applied to the High Court in Pretoria to compel prison officials to hold a parole hearing, claiming he had served more than half his sentence for Steenkamp’s murder.
Under South African law, offenders who serve half their sentences are eligible for parole, a milestone Pistorius said he had achieved.
The athlete claimed that he did everything in his power to rehabilitate and show complete repentance, according to the statement sent to the court.
After a trial that attracted global media attention, Pistorius was initially sentenced in October 2014 to five years in prison for culpable homicide when Judge Thokozile Masipa found mitigating circumstances, although the prosecution appealed the verdict.
In November 2015, Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa overturned the athlete’s manslaughter conviction and found him guilty of murder, sending the case back to the trial court for a new sentencing.
In July 2016, Judge Masipa sentenced Pistorius to six years in prison for murder.
However, following another appeal by the prosecution’s office, the Supreme Court of Appeal in November 2017 increased the sentence to fifteen years, the minimum set by South African law for murder, except in exceptional circumstances.
In practice, that sentence meant thirteen years and five months in prison, not including the time that Pistorius – who spent some time on bail and under house arrest – had already spent in prison.
Last July, Department of Correctional Services he confirmed that a meeting between Pistorius and Steenkamp’s parents had taken place the previous month.
The meeting was part of the athlete’s rehabilitation, a condition for applying for a suspended sentence.
Pistorius is serving time for shooting Steenkamp to death at his home in Pretoria on Valentine’s Day 2013, when he was at the height of his fame and fortune in his sporting career.
He shot him four times through the closed bathroom door, and during the trial he unsuccessfully argued that he panicked when he mistook Steenkamp for a burglar who entered the apartment through the bathroom window.
Born with a genetic problem that caused his parents to amputate both of his legs below the knees when he was 11 months old, Pistorius rose to world fame by running in Olympic Games in London 2012. on two carbon prostheses.
Source: Panama America
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
