Oscar Pistorius is free. In a statement released by the South African Ministry of Justice at 06:30, it is confirmed that the former Paralympic athlete, as expected, is officially under house arrest from today and has been released from Atteridgeville prison, a few kilometers from the capital Pretoria, after serving nearly 9 years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius is already in the luxurious villa of his uncle Arnold Pistorius in Waterkloof, a wealthy neighborhood of Pretoria.
The girlfriend's mother: "We are serving life"
Reeva Steenkamp's mother, June, has said she accepts the decision on Pistorius's release, with imposed conditions that include anger management courses and programs on gender violence, but - she denounced - it is Reeva's family, killed on February 14, 2013, who are "serving life". "Was there justice for Reeva? Has Oscar served a sufficient sentence? There can never be justice if the person you love does not return and no sentence served will bring Reeva back," she pressed in a statement relayed by the BBC. "We who remain, we are the ones serving life". And her "only" declared goal now is to focus on the "Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp Foundation".
The trial
In 2014, the High Court of Gauteng, Pretoria, found the former Paralympic champion guilty of culpable homicide after shooting and killing Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day 2013, while she was behind the closed door of her bathroom. In 2016, the Supreme Court sentenced Pistorius to six years in prison, but the sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal (Csa) in 2017, resulting in an increase in the prison sentence, which became 13 years and five months. At the beginning of the week, the Department of Correctional Services (Dcs) confirmed the date of house arrest on January 5, confirming what was previously communicated last November.
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