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Oscar Pistorius denied parole in murder of girlfriend

The bladerunner will serve more time in prison for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend

Oscar Pistorius Photo by: Jim Thurston CC

Six-time Paralympic champion and Olympian Oscar Pistorius will remain in prison for another year and a half after South Africa’s Correctional Supervision and Parole Board determined on Friday that he has not served enough time for the 2013 murder of former girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius’s parole was denied, despite him being eligible for an early release on March 31.

Steenkamp’s parents, who have said they still do not believe Pistorius’ account of their daughter’s killing, fought against Pistorius’s early parole; Pistorius has only served half of his sentence. (Pistorius was initially sentenced to five years for culpable homicide in 2014, but the case went through several appeals before he was eventually sentenced to 15 years for murder in 2017.)

Pistorius claimed he shot and killed Steenkamp through their bathroom door in the early morning hours of Valentine’s Day in 2013 after mistaking her for an intruder. The Steenkamp family believes Pistorius intentionally killed her after a late-night argument, and wants him to remain in prison.

During his 2016 trial, he told the courtroom that he loved Steenkamp and never intended to kill her. 

According to South Africa’s Department of Corrections, Pistorius will have to serve another year and a half before he can apply for parole again in August 2024.

Oscar Pistorius enters the dock at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, for a bail hearing on Dec. 8, 2015. Photo: Herman Verwey

Pistorius had a historic athletics career, becoming the first amputee to win a non-disabled world track medal, at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. At the 2012 London Olympics, Pistorius was the first double-leg amputee participant in the Athletics Program.

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