Olympic ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius smuggled out of prison on parole after serving more than 8 years for girlfriend’s murder
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Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympian who murdered his model girlfriend inside his home in 2013, was quietly released on parole from a South African prison on Friday, serving only half his sentence.
The disgraced runner secretly left Atteridgeville Prison in Pretoria out of the public’s view and has since arrived “home,” the country’s corrections department announced.
“The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is able to confirm that Oscar Pistorius is a parolee, effectively from 5 January 2024,” the statement read. “He was admitted into the system of Community Corrections and is now at home.”
Pistorius is expected to be staying at his uncle’s luxurious three-story mansion, where he will spend the rest of his parole.
The compound is equipped with armed guards, electronic defenses and several “attack dogs.
Pistorius had been serving his 13-year and five-month sentence for killing his girlfriend, model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp, 29.
The multi-gold medal Paralympic runner shot Steenkamp four times through a bathroom door on Valentine’s Day.
During his murder trial, which began in 2014, Pistorius claimed he mistook his girlfriend for a burglar while he used ammunition designed to inflict maximum damage to the human body.
Pretoria, South Africa before his release on Jan. 5. AP
He was initially sentenced in 2014 by a high court to 5 years in jail for culpable homicide.
The South African Supreme Court of Appeal later found Pistorius guilty of murder, a more serious charge in late 2015.
The Olympian was sentenced to six years in 2016 before prosecutors appealed again in 2017 saying it was too lenient of a sentence and more than doubled Pistorius’ jail time.
Pistorius was granted parole last November after a failed attempt earlier in the year in March and will complete the remainder of the sentence in the system of community corrections.
Steenkamp’s mourning mother, however, maintained her belief that Pistorius knowingly killed her daughter 11 years after “the day life changed forever.”
The day South Africa lost its hero, Oscar Pistorius, and the day Barry and I lost our precious daughter, Reeva, at Oscar’s hands,” June Steenkamp said Friday in a statement released by the family lawyer.
“Now almost 11 years later, the pain is still raw and real, and my dear late husband Barry and I have never been able to come to terms with Reeva’s death, or the way she died.”
The family also held firm to their beliefs that the South African legal system
Part of Pistorius’ parole conditions include anger management therapy and sessions on gender-based violence, which Steenkamp has credited the South African legal system for taking action on.
He is also barred from consuming alcohol and other prohibited drugs and will be monitored by a parole official until Dec. 2029.
“There can never be justice if your loved one is never coming back, and no amount of time served will bring Reeva back,” Steenkamp’s mother added. “We, who remain behind, are the ones serving a life sentence.”
Known as the “Blade Runner” because of his carbon-fiber prosthetic legs, Pistorius became the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics when they were held in London in 2012.
As he is set to begin his parole, Pistorius was warned he could be an assassination target in retaliation for Steenkamp’s murder.
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