There are no more obstacles in its path. June, Reeva Steenkamp’s mother, did not oppose her release. And the prison administration, which had nevertheless rejected his request for conditional release in March by asserting that the inmate had not served his minimum sentence, did not object after being contradicted by the Constitutional Court on October 9. After spending half of his sentence behind bars, Oscar Pistorius will therefore be released on parole on January 5, 2024.
Ten years after the murder of Reeva Steenkamp, South Africa is preparing to turn the page on one of its biggest legal soap operas. Oscar Pistorius, an athlete with both legs amputee at the knee, has long worn the colors of South Africa high. The six-time Paralympic champion defied the rules of the Olympics when, in 2012, he lined up at the start of the 400 meters alongside the able-bodied at the London Games.
Pistorius is equipped with blade-thin carbon prostheses which give him his nickname Blade Runner. The South African failed to qualify and finished last in the semi-finals, but runner Kirani James, who arrived first, asked for his bib to symbolically share his victory. The public gives him a standing ovation, he is the darling of the media.
“A terrible cry”
Oscar Pistorius is an international star who shares his life with a model with long blond hair, passionate about horse riding and committed to fighting domestic violence: Reeva Steenkamp. The image of the glamorous couple turned into drama when on the night of February 13 to 14, 2013, Valentine’s Day, Oscar Pistorius killed his girlfriend with four bullets. The 29-year-old young woman was found dead behind the bathroom door. Oscar Pistorius has always denied having killed him on purpose. The former athlete claims that he associated the noise he heard in the bathroom with the intrusion of a burglar and that by shooting he wanted to protect Reeva Steenkamp.
In his defense will be the thesis of a violent argument which would have forced Reeva Steenkamp to take refuge in the toilets with her mobile phone and to lock the door. Two neighbors, less than 200 meters from the couple’s home in a gated community in Pretoria, said they heard screams “to make your blood run cold” while they were working late that evening. “She let out a terrible cry, she was screaming for help” testified Michelle Burger in 2014. The reading, in court, of private messages sent by Reeva Steenkamp had highlighted the jealousy of Oscar Pistorius. “I’m afraid of you sometimes” wrote Reeva Steenkamp on January 27, 2013.
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