Cape Town – Paralympian sprinter Oscar Pistorius has not yet decided how to respond to the decision to suspend his planned release from prison, his spokeswoman said on Thursday.
“Despite what is being reported in the press, no decisions have been taken, and the family will take their time to calmly consider the way forward,” said Anneliese Burgess.
Justice Minister Michael Masutha announced on Wednesday that he had requested the Correctional Supervision and Parole Review Board to review a decision to release Pistorius from Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre on correctional supervision after serving one sixth of his five-year jail term.
He was convicted of culpable homicide for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.
Masutha said it had come to his attention that a convicted person had to serve at least one sixth of their sentence before being considered for placement under correctional supervision.
“It is apparent therefore that the decision to release him on 21 August 2015 was made prematurely on 5 June 2015 when the offender was not eligible to be considered at all,” Masutha said.
The minister confirmed that he had received a petition from the Progressive Women’s’ Movement of South Africa (PWMSA) on August 17 “wherein they expressed their opposition to the imminent release of Mr. Pistorius”.
The group appealed to Masutha not to release Pistorius during Women’s’ Month.
The minister stressed that the petition itself was not legal grounds for suspending Pistorius’s release but that upon receiving it, it became desirable that he look into the decision of the parole board that had agreed to release him.
ANA