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DCS explains Oscar Pistorius’ parole ordeal

The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) says convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius’ eligibility for parole does not mean he should automatically be released.

The DCS was responding to reports that the Constitutional Court confirmed that Pistorius was eligible for parole review in March.

DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said it has received an order from the Constitutional Court on the proper interpretation of the Supreme Court of Appeal’s Judgement delivered on November 24, 2017.

“DCS is studying the order and shall in due course pronounce itself on the way forward. This shall ensure that the order of court is correctly executed,” said Nxumalo.

He said the judgement was very clear in terms of years that Pistorius needed to serve.

“But the confusion came in when it referred to when must we start counting his sentences, meaning the effective sentence stage. You will recall that Pistorius came into our facilities for the first time to serve a sentence of culpable homicide.

“He was then placed out under correctional supervision, and then there were appeals, and when he was given 13 years and five months, he was brought back to then start again to serve that sentence. Pistorius then took us to court, saying that the Supreme Court ought to have included the time that he had served previously, and the court agreed with him.

“But then there was another order which came in a day before March 21, 2023, where the parole board was busy considering his parole placement, which was then saying something different. Hence on that particular day the parole board said the order that we are having now is saying that he has not served that minimum detention period, because by law an inmate has to serve that minimum sentence before he is eligible to be considered for placement.

“As the department, we are obligated to implement court orders, we cannot dispute or act otherwise. If perhaps there is confusion, we are then expected to go to that particular court and seek clarification,” Nxumalo said.

Pistorius is serving a 13-year-and-five-months prison sentence for the 2013 murder of his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, whom he shot through the bathroom door of his Pretoria East home on Valentine’s Day that year.

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