Cape Town, South Africa – Eight years after he was fatal shot his girlfriendOlympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius is up for parole, but must first meet his parents.
Pistorius, a world-renowned double-amputee athlete who competed in the 2012 Olympics, has been eligible for parole since July, when he was convicted of murder for shooting model Reva Steenkamp multiple times through the toilet door at his home on Valentine’s Day 2013. was ordained. Gaya.
Pistorius was convicted of murder in 2015 and eventually 13 year sentence and five months in jail. After serving half his sentence, he became eligible for parole under South African law.
A parole hearing for Pistorius was scheduled for last month and was then canceled, partly because a meeting between Pistorius and Steenkamp’s parents, Barry and June, was not arranged between lawyers for both sides. . told The Associated Press on Monday.
Pistorius’ attorney Julian Knight said Correctional Department officials had scheduled a parole hearing for October, but it was called off when a full report of Pistorius’ time in prison was not available. A new hearing date has not yet been set, Knight said.
In addition, Barry and June Steenkamp want a one-on-one meeting with Pistorius before considering his early release from prison, as they are entitled to under South Africa’s victim-criminal dialogue policy. Steenkamps has previously said that they want to challenge Pistorius about why he shot his daughter and that they will get to do so, stating that the victim-criminal meetings are aimed at some sort of closure for the families of the victims of the crimes.
“They (Barry and June) think Reeva has got a voice. They are Reeva’s voice, and they are indebted to their beloved daughter,” said Steenkamps attorney Tania Coen.
Steenkamps will also be allowed to make recommendations to the parole board, although Coen would not say whether he would oppose Pistorius’ release.
“We’ve discussed it,” Coen said, but declined to provide details.
The opinion of the victims’ families is considered by the parole board when deciding whether to release the offender, but it is not the only criterion.
Pistorius, 34, could be imprisoned for a victim-criminal meeting at the Aterridgeville Correctional Center in the capital Pretoria, from where he could be taken to the Steinkamps’ home town of Gakerbera (formerly Port Elizabeth), as Coen by Barry Steinkamp puts it. Huh. Unable to travel due to health.
Pistorius’ attorney Knight said it could be “out there” but the Department of Corrections would decide. Knight said he expects the meeting between Pistorius and Steenkamps, which should take place before a parole hearing, could happen by the end of the year.
Coen said it was a “huge surprise” for Steenkamp when corrections services officials contacted him last month to say Pistorius was eligible for parole. He believed he would be eligible only in 2023, she said.
“(It) opens up a lot of wounds, or rips off the ointment applied to those wounds,” Coen said.
Confusion over when he would qualify stems from the protracted and protracted murder trial of Pistorius and two subsequent appeals by prosecutors. Pistorius was put on trial in 2014, and it was only in 2018 that his case was finalized.
The multiple Paralympic champion was initially found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to homicide—a crime equivalent to manslaughter—for shooting Steenkamp with his licensed 9mm pistol. He claimed in his trial that it was a tragic accident and understood him as a dangerous intruder.
Prosecutors appealed for an investigation into the murder and secured the murder sentence. Pistorius was sentenced to six years in prison for the manslaughter, but prosecutors again appealed what he called a shockingly light sentence for murder. The Supreme Court of Appeal more than doubled his sentence in 2017.
Knight later asked the Supreme Court for clarification on the sentence, to see whether Pistorius, who is already serving a sentence in prison, should be counted toward his parole. This, Knight said, meant that Pistorius could have been considered for parole two years earlier, as the courts had initially indicated.
Knight stated that he believed Pistorius met the conditions for his early release.
“What I noticed about him is that he has been a model prisoner during his stay in prison,” Knight said. “My view is that he meets the requirements to be placed on parole, but there are procedures to be followed.”
Knight said that if Pistorius is released, the parole board may impose conditions, such as allowing him to leave the house to go to work during the week, and take only groceries for a limited time on weekends. Go. Church purchases and attendance are permitted.