Oscar Pistorius to be released on probation in August for good behaviour

[TheHumanLeague]

Oscar Pistorius to be released on probation in August for good behaviour

PUBLISHED : Monday, 08 June, 2015, 10:39pm
UPDATED : Monday, 08 June, 2015, 10:39pm

Associated Press in Johannesburg

Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympic athlete, was sentenced to five years in prison in October. Photo: AP

Prison officials have recommended that Oscar Pistorius, who killed his girlfriend, be released from prison on August 21 for good behaviour after serving just 10 months and be moved to house arrest, the head of correctional services said on Monday.

The news emerged the same day the country’s Supreme Court of Appeal announced the prosecution’s appeal against Pistorius’ acquittal on a murder charge for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp would be heard in November.

Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympic athlete, was found guilty of culpable homicide for shooting Steenkamp multiple times through a closed toilet door in his home in 2013. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Under South African law, he is eligible to be released under conditions after serving one-sixth of his sentence, which is 10 months in this case.

Acting National Commissioner of Correctional Services Zach Modise said a prison committee recommended last week that Pistorius be released from the prison in Pretoria on August 21, exactly 10 months after he was sentenced and meaning he will have served the minimum amount of jail time his sentence required.

Modise said the committee made the recommendation on the basis of Pistorius’ good behaviour in the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in the capital, Pretoria, where he has been incarcerated since October 21.

“He’s behaving himself very well,” Modise said. “He hasn’t given us any problems.”

Oscar Pistorius with his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, whom he shot dead in his home in 2013. Photo: AFP

Correctional Services spokesman Manelisi Wolela said the exact conditions of Pistorius’ house arrest wouldn’t be made public.

The prison’s parole board had not yet made the final decision to release Pistorius, and the world-famous runner must “keep behaving well” to be released, Modise said.

If released, Pistorius would be under strict probation conditions and would be monitored, Modise said. He said authorities would consider allowing him to begin training again.

However, Pistorius will also again face the possibility of a minimum of 15 years in prison if a panel of judges at the Supreme Court of Appeal overturns the original decision in his murder trial and convicts him of murder.

The court has not yet set an exact date for the start of the appeal, court registrar Paul Myburgh said, but it will be this November.

Last year, prosecutors appealed the decision by trial Judge Thokozile Masipa to find Pistorius guilty of the lesser charge, saying he should have been convicted of murder for shooting four times through the toilet cubicle door, killing Steenkamp. In December, Masipa granted prosecutors permission to appeal her finding at the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Myburgh said chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel and defence lawyer Barry Roux had already met with the president of the court.

Some of the details of the appeal hearing have been ironed out: Prosecutors must submit their court papers outlining their argument by August 17. Pistorius’ defence team must submit its response by September 17, Myburgh said.