Oscar Pistorius parole hearing to be heard on Friday
The former South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius will be set a possible parole date Friday after his application was reviewed.
Pistorius is currently serving a sentence of 13 years and 5 months for the murder of his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day 2013.
The parole board said in a statement Monday it “will be considering the profile of Oscar Pistorius on Friday, 24 November 2023”.
It will “decide whether the inmate is suitable or not for social reintegration”, and set a date for release in the event parole is granted, the board added.
Pistorius applied for parole in March but was refused following a communique from the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to the effect that he wasn’t yet eligible.
He then approached the Constitutional Court, though, which last month handed down an order confirming this in fact wasn’t the case.
Correctional Services spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo, has now confirmed that the Parole Board will be considering his profile this coming Friday.
Arrested in the early hours back in February 2013, he had pleaded not guilty and denied killing Steenkamp in a rage, saying he mistook her for a burglar.
He was first found guilty of manslaughter in 2014 and handed a five-years’ sentence in a televised trial.
Public prosecutors appealed the decision calling for a reclassification of murder and more hefty sentencing that saw him convicted in 2016 and sentenced to 13 years in jail in 2017.