South African former professional sprinter and convicted murderer, Oscar Pistorius will reportedly be given 24-hour police protection if he is freed next month on parole after detectives were told he faces threats to his life.
The 36-year-old may be released within weeks after serving half of his 13-year sentence for murdering Reeva Steenkamp, his girlfriend at the time, per Daily Mail.
Johannesburg’s police have received information that he will become a target for gangsters out to avenge the slaying of a young woman.
The athlete is said to have threatened one of the city’s notorious hardmen.
Pistorius, known as The Blade Runner after his racing prosthetic, had blasted a gun from a car sunroof and fired a handgun in a restaurant a few weeks before he killed 29-year-old Reeva, which brought him further into the underworld focus.
During his trial, Johannesburg hardman and former professional footballer Marc Batchelor was a prosecution witness and a menacing figure in the public gallery as he told of his contempt for the athlete.
Batchelor was threatened by Pistorius, who said he would ‘break his legs’ over a dispute over a woman.
Batchelor had also been a friend of Reeva’s and called for a life sentence for the athlete.
He was known to have underworld friends, including one who had killed a businessman and others who worked as hired assassins.
But Batchelor was shot dead by two masked gunmen in his car outside his home in Olivedale, Johannesburg, three years ago in what police believe was an organised hit.
No arrests have been made and the murder has not been connected to Pistorius.
But detectives understand Pistorius’s name is being circulated among the city’s underworld and contract killers.
Officers will liaise with his family as to how best to keep him safe from harm once he wins his freedom and offer their support.
‘Pistorius killed a young woman and that in itself is a major no-no as far as Johannesburg’s criminal fraternity is concerned,’ a police source said.
‘He had also threatened Batchelor who still has many friends in the city and who have a huge distaste for Oscar Pistorius.
‘Oscar is a murderer, but once he has served his sentence, he should be able to re-build his life and live safely.
‘The police do not, of course, have any liking of murderers but they deserve full protection from any harm and that is what he will be given.
‘South Africa cannot afford to have any more violence connected to Pistorius and police will work very hard to ensure his safety.
‘We have received information that there are people who say he deserved to pay for killing a young woman.
‘Today marks the tenth anniversary of the day Pistorius killed Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, in his flat.
He claimed to have mistaken Reeva for an intruder, shooting her through the bathroom door.
