Paralympic gold medalist and convicted killer Oscar Pistorius was granted parole on Friday just 10 years after he shot his girlfriend to death.
The 37-year-old South African will be released from prison after serving about eight years of a 13-year sentence, The Associated Press reported.
Pistorius, a double amputee dubbed the “Blade Runner,” will be freed on Jan. 5 but will be monitored for the remainder of the time he was slated to spend behind bars.
He also must perform community service and attend programs on anger issues and violence against women.
Pistorius will not be able to leave Pretoria, where the killing took place, without permission, but he will not have to wear a monitoring device as that is not part of South African procedure, a government spokesman said.
The parole decision was met with outrage on social media:
Breaking: A terrible decision to parole Oscar Pistorius after just 9 years in prison for murdering Reeva. He will be out in January but must attend anger management therapy. What a joke. They have zero understanding of coercive control #HerNameWasReeva pic.twitter.com/BspEZGykAo
— Laura Richards BSc, MSc, MBPsS (@laurarichards99) November 24, 2023
Oscar Pistorius stole the life of Reeva Steenkamp, and served only 10 years in prison for it.
Now he’ll get to be out on parole and enjoy his family, while Reeva’s family will never have the joy of seeing her again.— Michelle Kosinski (@MichLKosinski) November 24, 2023
Disgusting, Reeva Steenkamp didn’t get to live the rest of her life so why should he? This is very sad news and I feel for her family https://t.co/PE7GYmJA8J
— Paula Pearson (@pearsonp69) November 24, 2023
Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp, 29, on Valentine’s Day 2013 when he fired four shots through his bathroom door, striking Steenkamp on the other side.
Pistorius claimed he thought Steenkamp was an intruder, but prosecutors argued he killed her in a fit of rage during an argument.
He was found guilty of culpable homicide in 2014 and sentenced to five years in prison, but was released to serve house arrest after a year, Reuters reported.
In 2015, an appeals court found Pistorius guilty of the more serious charge of murder. His 13-year sentence came down in 2017.
Steenkamp’s mother, June Steenkamp, was not opposed to Pistorius’ early release from prison but said she didn’t believe her daughter’s killer had been rehabilitated, the AP reported.
According to the Daily Mail, June Steenkamp also said she never believed Pistorius’ version of events.
“I do not believe … that he thought the person in the toilet was a burglar. In fact, I do not know anybody who does,” Steenkamp said in a statement read on her behalf at Friday’s parole hearing.
However, she added that she had “forgiven Oscar long ago, as I knew almost instantly that I would not be able to survive if I had to cling to my anger.”
