Johannesburg - Oscar Pistorius has been denied parole after spending almost nine years behind bars for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
The parole board ordered Pistorius should remain behind bars after it found he had yet to spend the minimum required time behind bars to qualify for parole.
He will appear before the parole board again in August next year.
The Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the Correctional Supervision and Parole Board (CSPB) “granted inmate Pistorius a further profile for August 2024. The reason provided is that the inmate did not complete the minimum Detention Period as ruled by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) (as per the clarification provided on 28 March 2023)"..
The Olympian, known as the ‘blade runner’, shot Steenkamp dead at his Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day in 2013.
He said he had heard a noise in the middle of the night in the toilet and had believed Steenkamp was an intruder, firing behind the locked door.
Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, was shot just as she was starting to emerge as a celebrity in the entertainment space. She had appeared in the reality show Tropika Island of Treasure, appeared alongside Pistorius at the SA Sports Awards and had been in advertising campaigns with the likes of KFC, Avon and Toyota, before she was gunned down.
Initially, the Pretoria High Court had convicted Pistorius of culpable homicide in 2013, but this was overturned by the Constitutional Court in 2014, which found Pistorius guilty of murder.
He was handed a 13 year jail sentence.
Steenkamp's parents, June and Barry, had opposed Pistorius’s release. June travelled to Pretoria where she appeared before the parole board during a sitting at the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre on Friday.
Barry, due to ill health, did not travel.
The Steenkamp couple believed Pistorius should not be released as he was not remorseful for his actions.
The Steenkamps said a remorseful Pistorius would have come clean about the true events of that fateful night on February 14, 2013.
Nxumalo said the Steenkamps had opted to come in person to make their representations before the parole board. He said Pistorius was allowed an opportunity to also make his representation before the board.
Pistorius’s father, Henke, had told the Pretoria News this week that they were looking forward to having Oscar home.
Speaking ahead of the parole board sitting, he told the publication: “We believe he will be home soon, but until the parole board has spoken the word, I don't want to get my hopes up.”
IOL