By Genevieve Quintal, News24
Pretoria – Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was released from prison under correctional supervision on Monday night, the department of correctional services said.
“The handling of the actual placement is an operational matter of the local management, and how they handle it is their prerogative,” spokesperson Manelisi Wolela said.
“They carry it out in the best interest of all parties concerned, the victims, the offender and the department of correctional services.”
It had been expected that Pistorius would only leave the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Pistorius’s lawyer Brian Webber told The Citizen newspaper that his client was home just after 22:00 on Monday.
“Yes it is true… he is at home already,” Webber was quoted as saying.
Correctional supervision
This was after the correctional services department announced last week that he would be placed under correctional supervision on October 20.
Pistorius was initially expected to be released on August 21, but Justice Minister Michael Masutha however blocked this and referred the matter back to the parole review board.
He said the parole board had acted prematurely when it decided on June 5 to release Pistorius. It should have met on August 21, after Pistorius had served one-sixth of his five-year jail sentence, to decide if he could be released into correctional supervision.
The matter was then taken to the parole review board (PRB) which again referred it back to the Kgosi Mampuru II prison parole board.
On October 21 last year, Pistorius was sentenced to five years for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead on Valentine’s Day in 2013.
The double-amputee track star was sentenced to a further three years, suspended for five years, for firing a shot at Tasha’s restaurant in Johannesburg, in January 2013. – News24
