The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsParalympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is to be released from prison on probation on 21 August, after serving just ten months of his five year sentence for shooting dead his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentines Day in 2013.
The South African Paralympic star, who was sentenced in September 2014, is to be released due to the South African law that he has been under ‘correctional supervision’ for six months.
It was reported four months into his sentence that Pistorius was upgraded to ‘category A’ status, resulting in further privileges such as more phone calls, a radio and toiletries. Claims from staff and fellow inmates said that the athlete was treated like royalty, whilst guards feared for his safety.
The decision of Pistorius’s release was made earlier today when South African Commissioner of Correctional Services, Zach Modise, said that the case management committee at the Kgosi Mampuru II prison had made the recommendation for the athletes release.
The decision will once again cause a national debate across South Africa as we await the Verdict in August.
The likely outcome is that Pistorius will spend time under house arrest under strict probation conditions, but nothing yet has been confirmed.
However, in November, Pistorius could return to prison for a further 15 years if a panel of judges at the supreme court of appeal overturn the original decision of culpable homicide to murder.
Many at the time, including state prosecutors, said the athlete should have been found guilty of murder, before his Verdict was given as culpable homicide.
On the night of 13 February 2013, Pistorius shot four times at the bathroom door in his Pretoria home after claiming that he’d heard an intruder, killing Steenkamp.
