JOHANNESBURG – Former Olympic runner and Paralympic gold medalist Oscar Pistorius was again denied parole on Friday. The South African Parole Board issued the verdict, keeping Pistorius in prison for more than 10 years after he shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
The panel considered his conduct and disciplinary records in prison, his participation in educational or other training during the past decade of incarceration, and his mental and physical condition to assess whether Pistorius, now 36, still posed a threat to the public would represent security.
He can apply for parole again in another year.
When Steenkamp’s mother June arrived for the parole hearing on Friday, she was asked if she thought Pistorius was repentant.
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“No. Never,” she said. “It’s very difficult to be in the same room with him.”
Reeva Steenkamp’s mother, June Steenkamp, smiles as she arrives at the Atteridgeville Correctional Center in Pretoria, South Africa, ahead of Oscar Pistorius’ parole hearing on March 31, 2023. PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP/Getty
Steenkamp’s parents were expected to voice their opposition to Pistorius’ early parole before the parole board, which met behind closed doors.
“We don’t believe his story,” June Steenkamp told reporters as her car pulled into Pretoria’s Atteridgeville Correctional Center on Friday.
The 2014 murder trial kept viewers around the world glued to the live courtroom feed as prosecutors argued the star athlete had deliberately shot his girlfriend through a locked bathroom door in the middle of the night.
A picture taken on January 26, 2013 shows Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius posing next to his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg. WALDO SWIEGER/AFP/Getty
Pistorius consistently maintained that it was a terrible accident and that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder. He was eventually convicted of murder after prosecutors successfully appealed an initial conviction of involuntary manslaughter, which is akin to manslaughter. He was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison in 2017, accounting for just over a year he had already served during the appeals process.
Social workers had inspected his uncle Arno Pistorius’ home in Pretoria, where he would have served the remainder of his sentence had he been paroled.
Police escort Oscar Pistorius before his sentencing at Northern Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa July 6, 2016 for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Photo24/Getty
Pistorius had last started parole in 2021, but that request was denied on technical grounds, as he had not met with Steenkamp’s family as required by South Africa’s parole rules. That meeting has since taken place, but Steenkamp’s parents remain unconvinced that Pistorius took responsibility for his actions.
Steenkamp’s mother had hinted before Friday that she, along with her husband, would oppose Pistorius’ early release, arguing that unless he admits to having deliberately killed her daughter, it cannot be assumed that he has any remorse has shown.
“Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, is to be paroled
The year before the murder, Pistorius was a star at the London Olympics and gained worldwide recognition for being the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied sprinters. His skill with two carbon fiber prostheses earned him the nickname “Blade Runner”.