Oscar Pistorius makes shameless freedom bid as Reeva Steenkamp’s mum comes face to face with killer at parole hearing
CONVICTED killer Oscar Pistorius has attended a hearing as a parole board is set to determine whether he can be released from jail early.
The former sprinter, 36, has served half his sentence after he was convicted of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2014.
Reeva’s mum June was pictured arriving at the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in Pretoria, South Africa, where the hearing is taking place.
“It’s going to be very hard to be in the same room as him. I don’t believe his story,” she told reporters from her car.
A parole board is expected to decide today whether Pistorius should be released from prison early.
“We have been advised that there will be a decision later today,” Tania Koen, a lawyer representing Reeva’s family said.
Steenkamp’s family are set to oppose his freedom bid and will give verbal and written statements at the hearing on the impact the murder had on them, Koen said.
“As you can imagine it’s painful. June has to face Oscar Pistorius again this morning. He is the killer of her daughter,” she said.
“Unless he comes clean, they don’t feel that he is rehabilitated,” Koen added.
If he is granted parole, he could be freed in a matter of days.
Pistorius shot dead model Reeva, 29, through the locked door of the bathroom of his home in Pretoria in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013.
The ex-sprinter known worldwide as the “Blade Runner” because of his carbon-fibre prosthetics, claimed he mistook her for an intruder.
Following a lengthy trial and several appeals he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 13 years behind bars in 2017.
He was initially sentenced to six years in jail – but the term was doubled after the state appealed it was too lenient.
The parole board is set to determine whether Pistorius has been rehabilitated or still poses a danger to society, as well as his conduct in prison, according to prison spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo.
It will also consider his disciplinary record, training programmes in prison and his physical and mental state, prison officials said.
Offenders in South Africa are automatically eligible for parole consideration after serving half of their sentence.
If not released on full parole he could be placed on day parole where he’d have to return to prison at night or be placed under supervision.
In that case, he would be released but would have to spend some time at a correctional centre every week.
In case he is released from jail, he is likely to stay at his uncle’s luxury mansion where an “Oscar room” is already prepared for him.
The 26-year-old’s uncle Arnold Pistorius told Afrikaans news outlet Network24, the room is in a massive property in Pretoria.
He added that Pistorius’ sister is also set to return home from London to help him adjust to freedom.
As part of his rehabilitation, Pistorius met June and Barry last year.
Barry revealed the runner “wailed like a child” as he tried to explain his actions and refused to accept he was a murderer.
The grieving dad revealed how the pair shook hands at the prison meeting but he still does not forgive his daughter’s killer.
Barry said at the time: “He thanked me and told me how sorry he was. It was a touching moment.
“We decided to shake hands. I didn’t say, ‘I forgive you’. I just said, ‘Thank you.’ ”
A year before killing Reeva, Pistorius became the first double amputee to race at the Olympics at the London 2012 games.
On the tenth anniversary of Reeva’s death last month, her brother Adam told The Sun, Pistorius should not be allowed out of jail early and must serve his full term.
“I absolutely stand by his view that Oscar is unrepentant and obviously still does not take responsibility for the murder of my sister and that he should continue to serve his time,” he said.
Adam paid tribute to his sister, a “wonderful, bright person with a great sense of humour” and said his family will “never come to terms” with her death.
“I miss her every day. What happened that morning ten years ago has had devastating consequences on everyone,” he added.