Paralympic gold medallist Pistorius, 28, was due to be released into house arrest on Friday after serving 10 months of a five-year sentence for killing his girlfriend, model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day 2013.
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Masutha, a qualified lawyer who is no stranger to controversial decisions having this year approved the release from prison of two apartheid-era killers to public outcry, said Pistorius should only have been considered for parole from Friday, not released.
The family of Reeva Steenkamp has welcomed the South African government’s surprise decision to block the release of Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, who is serving a five-year prison sentence for her killing.
Today’s decision comes on what would have been Steenkamp’s 32nd birthday. The parole board’s decision was taken after only six months. “This choice of the parole board is over the top and an attack against the point of ladies’ month”.
The decision to keep Oscar Pistorius in jail has given Reeva Steenkamp’s parents the opportunity to celebrate her “best birthday” since her death, a women’s rights group said on Thursday.
“We are shocked and disappointed that Oscar won’t be home this Friday”, the family member, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
The justice minister’s comments follow a petition from the Progressive Women’s Movement of South Africa, which has described the athlete’s early release as “outrageous” and “an insult” to victims of abuse.
The minister was duty-bound to intervene because the law is very clear – “the decision to release an offender may only be taken after he has served one-sixth of his sentence”, Mr Motsoeneng emphasised.
Pistorius’s large legal team and family have remained tight-lipped about the latest development in a case already characterized by twists and turns more suited to a television drama.
The athlete, now 28, admitted during a trial watched around the world that he killed her but says he mistook her for an intruder.
Prosecutors filed an appeal this week asking for the verdict of culpable homicide, equivalent to manslaughter, changed to murder because they argue Pistorius must have known when he fired that the person behind the door could be killed.
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However, given the four-month timeframe, it is highly unlikely that Pistorius will be freed before the prosecution’s appeal against his acquittal on murder charges is heard in November.
