Africa
Oscar Pistorius seeks to force early jail release
Oscar Pistorius, a convicted murderer, will attempt to compel South African authorities to hold a parole hearing for him in court.
The former Paralympic gold medalist is currently serving a 13-year prison term for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend.
Pistorius fatally shot Reeva Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door, claiming he mistook her for a burglar.
Due to a disagreement about the date that his sentence began, he is requesting an early release.
His sentence’s effective date has been unclear due to a slew of appeals and decisions by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
According to Pistorius, he has already served enough time in jail to qualify for parole, thus officials ought to investigate the possibility of his early release.
In 2017, SCA overturned an earlier, more lenient sentence of six years for murder and ruled that Pistorius should serve 13 years and five months in prison for the murder of Ms. Steenkamp.
The same court decided a year ago that his present sentence should be retroactive to October 2014, when he was first imprisoned for a lesser crime of culpable homicide.
According to Pistorius, this backdating indicates that he was qualified for parole in February of last year.
He is requesting that the parole board be required to hold a hearing for him by the Gauteng High Court. He requests that the hearing take place within 30 days following the order granting his request if it is granted.
However, the Atteridgeville prison where he is being detained claims that the court of appeals issued conflicting decisions.
Additionally, according to the Department of Correctional Services, it is requesting a court order to determine the exact beginning date of his sentence.
Nine years ago, the nation was shocked by Steenkamp’s murder on Valentine’s Day. In the televised trial, which captivated millions in South Africa and across the globe, Pistorius pleaded that he had shot his fiancée four times because he believed a burglar had broken into his Pretoria home.
However, a panel of appellate judges determined that Pistorius should have anticipated that whoever was hiding behind the toilet door may die given his training with weapons and the fact that he had armed himself with a lethal weapon.
