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There is a very good chance that Oscar Pistorius will be spending his Christmas at home, with only a parole hearing on Friday standing between him and freedom.

Pistorius’s lawyer, Conrad Dormehl, confirmed yesterday that he would be appearing before the board, but could not speculate if the disgraced athlete would be released immediately.

Reeva Steenkamp’s mother, June Steenkamp, has however notified the court that she would not be attending the hearing. She is also not opposing parole this time and an attorney will read out her victim impact report to the parole board.

June Steenkamp is still mourning the loss of her husband Barry, who died earlier this year. The Steenkamps had always been adamant that Pistorius should stay behind bars until he told the truth about how he killed their daughter.

One can’t help but sympathise with the lady after having to endure a decade of sadness while trying to keep your daughter’s killer behind bars.

Pistorius’ parole hearing comes after he successfully petitioned the Constitutional Court to confirm that his murder sentence began on 6 July 2016, when he was sentenced to six years in prison for murder by Gauteng High Court in Pretoria Judge Thokozile Masipa, and not on 24 November 2017, when the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) increased that sentence to 13 years and five months.

The court eventually found that “by 21 March 2023 [Pistorius] had served half of his sentence as contemplated in section 73(6) of the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998”. This, along with his insistence that he had been a “model prisoner”, makes his case for parole very strong – especially with Reeva’s mother deciding to not oppose bail.

Whatever the outcome of Friday’s hearing, his release will still bring us no closer to the truth of what happened that fateful Valentine’s Day in 2013.

[source:news24]