CAPE TOWN: Oscar Pistorius, the former South African runner who competed in both the Olympics and Paralympics, was ordered to be released from prison Friday, more than 10 years after he shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home.
Pistorius is now set to be released from a South African prison on Jan. 5 after the court confirmed he had served the time necessary to make him eligible.
It’s the latest turn in the story of the double-amputee Olympic runner who was one of the world’s most admired athletes before he killed his girlfriend by shooting her multiple times through a toilet door at his home.
Pistorius, who had his 37th birthday this week, was sent to prison in late 2014 and has been given a second chance at parole in the space of eight months after he was wrongly ruled ineligible for early release at a first hearing in March. That was due to an error made by an appeals court over when Pistorius’ jail sentence officially started and if he’d served the required time.
He was initially convicted of culpable homicide — a charge comparable to manslaughter — for killing Reeva Steenkamp in the predawn hours of Valentine’s Day 2013. That conviction was overturned and he was convicted of murder after an appeal by prosecutors. They also appealed against an initial sentence of six years for murder and Pistorius was ultimately sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison.
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Serious offenders in South Africa must serve at least half their sentence to be eligible for parole, which Pistorius has done.
Pistorius testified at his murder trial that he killed Steenkamp by mistake and thought she was a dangerous intruder hiding in his bathroom in the middle of the night when he fired four times through the door with his licensed 9 mm pistol. Prosecutors argued that Steenkamp had fled to the toilet cubicle during a late-night argument and Pistorius killed her in a rage.
Pistorius was eventually convicted of murder on a legal principle known as dolus eventualis, which means he acted with extreme recklessness and should have known that whoever was behind the door would likely be killed. It’s comparable to third-degree murder.
The killing happened when Pistorius was at the height of his fame and just months after he had become the first double-amputee to compete at the Olympics. He was also a multiple Paralympic sprinting champion and one of sport’s most marketable figures having overcome the amputation of both his legs below the knee as a baby to run on specially designed carbon-fiber blades.
