Disgraced athlete, Oscar Pistorius could be freed from prison after prosecutors admitted they made a mistake by refusing earlier bids for parole.
Murder case since 2013
The Olympian and double amputee has been in a South African prison since he was found guilty of murdering model girlfriend Reeve Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013.
Pistorius, now 36, claimed he thought she was an intruder and the shooting was a tragic mistake.
Accused of murder
He was convicted of manslaughter, and the verdict was later upgraded to murder, with a sentence of 13 years and five months. Pistorius has since made bids for parole, which have been rejected.
His case will be heard again on Friday, where South Africa’s Department of Corrections said a board will decide whether he is ‘suitable or not for social integration’.
Serious offenders in South Africa must serve at least half their sentence before they are eligible for parole.
His appeal
The Supreme Court of Appeal eventually ruled in 2017 that Pistorius should serve South Africa’s minimum sentence of 15 years for murder, but took into account the year and seven months he had already served for culpable homicide when it delivered his new sentence.
However, the court made an error by not counting another period Pistorius had served while his murder sentence was being appealed, meaning he was in fact eligible for parole in March when he was told at his first hearing that he would only be eligible in August 2024.
Pistorius’ lawyers took his case to the country’s apex Constitutional Court, earning him a new hearing on Friday in recognition of the appeal court’s error.
