Blaze Runner Pistorius, a South African, was granted parole ten years after killing his girlfriend.
FILE PHOTO: Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius leaves court after appearing for the 2013 killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, June 14, 2016. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/Files© Thomson Reuters
Oscar Pistorius, a former Paralympian athlete from South Africa who was incarcerated in 2014 after killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, was granted parole on January 5th, the Department of Correctional Services announced on Friday.
A decade ago, in hearings that captured the attention of the entire world, Pistorius—dubbed the "Blade Runner" due to his carbon-fibre prosthetic legs—went from being a widely recognized hero and Paralympic champion to a convicted murderer.
On Valentine's Day of 2013, Pistorius killed Steenkamp by shooting him.
A high court had sentenced him to five years in prison for culpable homicide in 2014, but following an appeal by the prosecution, the Supreme Court of Appeal found him guilty of murder in late 2015.
In 2016, he was remanded for six years, which was less than half the 15-year minimum sentence that the prosecution had requested.
The Supreme Court declared that the six-year prison term was "shockingly lenient" in 2017, more than doubling his sentence to thirteen years and five months.
