Cape Town, Nov 2, (dpa/GNA) – Former Olympic and Paralympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted of killing his girlfriend over a decade ago, is to be released on parole on January 5, the South African prison service announced on Friday.
Pistorius, widely known as the “Blade Runner” because of his prosthetics, murdered his then partner Reeva Steenkamp with four shots, through a lavatory door in his Pretoria home, on the eve of Valentine’s Day in 2013.
Legal proceedings dragged on for years in multiple trials.
Pistorius defended his actions by saying he believed there was an intruder in his home, but the court ultimately rejected his evidence, and convicted him of murder.
Now aged 37, he has served half of his sentence of 13 years and five months. Under South African law, he has an automatic right to a parole hearing.
Pistorius was classified at a parole hearing on Friday, as “a first-time offender with a positive support system.”
At the time of the offence, Pistorius was at the peak of his career. He had won six gold medals at the 2012 Paralympic Games on custom-made carbon prostheses.
He competed at the able-bodied World Championships in 2011, and then at the Olympics in London in 2012.
His legs had been amputated below the knees as a child, due to a genetic defect.
GNA