Oscar Pistorius goes to court docket to hunt early launch from his sentence for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The South African athlete, nicknamed Blade Runner after his racing prosthetics, is serving a 13-year sentence for the 2013 homicide, when he shot lifeless Ms Steenkamp of their house.
He will argue he has already served greater than half of his sentence – sufficient to be eligible for parole.
He was initially serving simply six years, however in 2017 a South African court docket greater than doubled his sentence to 13 years and 5 months.
Last yr the court docket dominated his time period must be backdated to October 2014 when he was initially sentenced for a lesser cost of culpable murder.
Pistorius argues this implies he has been eligible for parole since February final yr.
“I humbly submit that I have done everything in my power to rehabilitate, to conduct myself in such a manner as to constantly comply with prison rules, to show full remorse,” Pistorius instructed the judges in a press release, printed by the News24 web site.
“I have completed all possible programmes which were presented, and I have indeed qualified in terms of the Dept of Correctional Services guidelines for release on parole.”
It comes after Pistorius met Ms Steenkamp’s father as a part of his parole bid.
In South Africa offenders should serve no less than half of their sentence earlier than turning into eligible for parole after which attend a listening to.
A listening to had beforehand been cancelled as a result of Pistorius had not met with Ms Steenkamp’s mother and father.
Confirming the assembly in a textual content message, a lawyer for the Steenkamp household, Tania Koen, mentioned the pair met face-to-face on 22 June as a part of a course of in South Africa known as victim-offender dialogue.
The course of offers victims the prospect to satisfy with offenders earlier than they develop into eligible for parole.
Ms Koen added in her message: “The dialogue is a private and confidential matter, hence we ask that our clients’ privacy be respected.”
The Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp Foundation additionally confirmed the assembly had taken place, writing on its Facebook web page: “We extend our love and support to Barry and June who participated in the process in preparing them for a meeting with Oscar Pistorius. Barry ultimately met with Oscar on 22 June 2022 for the Victim Offender Dialogue.
“A phrase of honest gratitude to the Department of Correctional Services, particularly the workers at St Albans Prison, for facilitating the method in a delicate {and professional} method.”
At the time, a spokesman for the jail companies mentioned though Pistorius met with Ms Steenkamp’s father he’ll proceed to serve his sentence as regular, and that collaborating within the victim-offender dialogue course of doesn’t equate to the tip of a sentence or automated parole.
During his trial Pistorius claimed he had shot Ms Steenkamp 4 instances via a locked rest room door as a result of he mistook her for an intruder.
Source: information.sky.com”