Oscar Pistorius to be released on parole

GAUTENG – Ex-Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius is leaving prison almost 11 years after he shot dead his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp. He will also be banned from drinking alcohol and talking to the press when he is released on parole this Friday.

Pistorius, 37, killed Miss Steenkamp, a model, in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013, firing four times through the bathroom door of his ultra-secure Pretoria house.

A parole board reviewing whether Pistorius was fit for social reintegration decided at the end of November 2023 to allow him out of prison early on January 5.

‘Just like other parolees, Pistorius is restricted from conducting media interviews,’ the department of correctional services said in a statement. He will be under the supervision of the DCS and will be subjected to parole conditions until his sentence expires in December 2029.

He will be assigned a monitoring official, who will have to be kept informed when Pistorius is seeking job opportunities or moving homes. As part of the conditions, Pistorius will also have to attend programmes on gender-based violence and continue therapy sessions on anger management, a lawyer for the Steenkamp family said shortly after he was granted parole. He is expected to live in Pretoria.