The paralympian shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on the night of Valentine’s Day in 2013, shooting four times with a large caliber weapon on the door of the bathroom where she was.
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The paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius, who has killed his girlfriend unintentionally, will be freed from jail and go into house arrest Friday. Instead, he was just found guilty of culpable homicide, which is not the same as murder in accordance to the South African law.
The parents of Reeva Steenkamp, who was shot dead by Oscar Pistorius, have said they will feel her loss even more this week when he is released from prison, because it coincides with her birth date.
Meanwhile the State has filed its application to appeal Pistorius’s conviction on culpable homicide, arguing that the court incorrectly applied the principle of “dolus eventualis”. But he said he had acted under the mistaken belief that an intruder was hiding behind it at a time. He is eligible for release in line with guidelines that say non-dangerous prisoners should spend only a sixth of a custodial sentence behind bars.
However, also on Monday, the State filed papers with the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein to appeal the judgment and sentence. If the appeal is successful, he could be facing a murder conviction and a minimum jail term of 15 years.
Pistorius will swap a cold-walled hail cell for his uncle Arnold’s plush mansion in the Waterkloof area.
Pistorius did not apply for parole himself but in June correctional services recommended he be released as early as possible from Pretoria’s Kgosi Mampuru II prison, the Independent reported. He made history in 2012 when he became the first amputee runner to compete in the Olympics.
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Ms Steenkamp’s family told the parole board in a letter “10 months for taking a life is simply not enough”. “We fear that this will not send out the proper message and serve as a deterrent it should”.
