South African ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius has been granted parole 10 years after killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013

Oscar Pistorius, known as the 'Blade Runner' because of his carbon-fiber prosthetic legs, went from a public hero as a Paralympic winner to a convicted killer in proceedings that captivated the globe a decade ago.

South African ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius has been granted parole 10 years after killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013

Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp [Image Credit- The Sydney Morning Herald]

Oscar Pistorius, the former Paralympic champion, and Olympic sprinter has been given the green light for parole. Come January 5, this decision by the parole board of South Africa will spring into action. This turning point arrives over a decade after the heart-wrenching incident on Valentine’s Day 2013 when Pistorius tragically shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

There’s been a lot of buzz about how the board would land on this decision, considering Pistorius’s behavior behind bars. His willingness to learn and improve through various programs, and his emotional and physical well-being. Plus, they weighed in on whether he might slip back into old ways and how he might blend back into the community.

The National Department of Correctional Services’ statement highlighted Oscar’s status as a first-time offender buoyed by solid backing from his circle. They declared that his parole was decided after a careful examination of his profile and other pertinent info. Reeva Steenkamp’s family is still echoing the importance of facing the crime’s raw truth for real rehabilitation to occur.

While her mother, June, didn’t speak to the board, a heartfelt statement was shared on her behalf that underlined the essential nature of fully acknowledging the gravitas of his actions for true remorse to take root. The Correctional Services Department has stated that the aforementioned sportsman will continue to serve his sentence within the community corrections framework.

Oscar Pistorius alleges to have misidentified her girlfriend as an intruder

Adhering strictly to parole conditions until the completion of his terms. Prior assessment of Arno Pistorius’s residence in Pretoria—designated for the athlete’s home detention—confirmed its suitability for enforcing the parole stipulations. South African parole regulations, which are subject to variation, may enforce electronic tracking and prohibit capitalizing on the prison experience through media dialogue.

Oscar Pistorius
Oscar Pistorius [Image Credit- NPR]

The global audience was captivated by the 2014 broadcasted proceedings, where it was contended that the sprinter, renowned as ‘Blade Runner’ due to his synthetic running blades, intentionally shot his partner. Pistorius consistently claimed the incident as a tragic misjudgment, having confused her for an intruder. After initially receiving a sentence for culpable homicide, an equivalent of manslaughter in American law, an appellate court elevated the judgment to murder.

Consequently, he received a 13-year and 5-month prison term in 2017, inclusive of prior time served. On his 37th birthday, Pistorius confronted the refusal of his preliminary parole request, as he had not yet served the requisite detention period, despite serving half of the pronounced duration being a general criterion for parole eligibility in South Africa. In March, the authorities opined that Pistorius’ eligibility should be calculated from his most recent sentence; however, this was later refuted by the Constitutional Court, interpreting the law as the detention period commencing with the initial onset of imprisonment.

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