South Africa: Oscar Pistorius will quickly know if he’s launched

South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius, who killed his girlfriend 10 years in the past, will know in a month if he’s eligible for parole, his lawyer stated Thursday.

“We’ve got been knowledgeable by the parole board that the listening to will happen on March 31,” Julian Knight advised AFP.

Pistorius, now 36, killed Reeva Steenkamp within the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013 by capturing 4 instances by way of the lavatory door of his ultra-secure Pretoria residence.

The previous athlete, an amputee beneath each knees, has all the time denied killing his girlfriend in a match of rage, claiming he mistook her for a burglar.

The sprinter, recognized all over the world as “Blade Runner” due to his carbon fiber prostheses, was sentenced to 13 years in jail. 

In South Africa, prisoners are routinely eligible for parole after serving half their sentence. 

The legislation is identical for all, “Oscar Pistorius isn’t an exception,” famous with AFP the lawyer of the dad and mom of his sufferer, Tania Koen.

In accordance with the process requiring that the convict meets with the sufferer or his household, Oscar Pistorius met in early July the dad and mom of Reeva Steenkamp.

The choice is often recognized on the day of the listening to or a day later, and “if the choice is destructive, the inmate has the suitable to go to courtroom for a evaluation,” Knight stated. 

A 12 months earlier than he killed Steenkamp, Pistorius grew to become a world star when he lined up with able-bodied athletes within the 400 meters on the London Olympics.

He was initially sentenced to 6 years in jail, however the sentence was later elevated to 13 years after the state appealed that it was too lenient.