A South African parole board is due to meet Monday to determine whether Paralympian star Oscar Pistorius should be released early from a prison sentence for killing his girlfriend.
The 28-year-old double-amputee sprinter was sentenced last year to five years in prison for killing model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013, after a trial that attracted global headlines.
He was found guilty of culpable homicide — a charge equivalent to manslaughter — after saying during the trial that he shot his girlfriend through a locked bathroom door because he mistook her for an intruder.
Pistorius was due to leave prison in August to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest.
Watch: Animated reenactment: Oscar Pistorius’ version of the night he killed Reeva Steenkamp
But he was kept behind bars after Justice Minister Michael Masutha made a last minute intervention blocking his release, saying the parole board had made a mistake when they approved Pistorius for parole before he had served a sixth of his five-year sentence, as required by law.
The board’s first meeting two weeks ago in the eastern port city of Durban ended without the panel of legal experts headed by a judge making a decision on Pistorius’ case, and the matter was postponed.
“The hearing will go ahead on Monday,” correctional services spokesman Manelisi Wolela confirmed to AFP.
Even if he is freed from prison and placed under house arrest, Pistorius could find himself back behind bars for a minimum of 15 years if an appeal by prosecutors next month is successful.
They are pursuing a murder conviction and a longer sentence, arguing that Pistorius deliberately killed Steenkamp after an argument
If the parole review board decides that Pistorius should be released from prison, the athlete might be able to leave jail immediately, his lawyer Brian Webber told AFP.
Whatever the outcome of the parole decision, the Supreme Court of Appeal will hear the prosecution’s appeal on November 3.
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