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Tag: Oscar Pistorius

  • Fury from Reeva Steenkamp's family as Pistorius plans for tell-all £1m book

    Fury from Reeva Steenkamp's family as Pistorius plans for tell-all £1m book

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    MURDERER Oscar Pistorius has sparked fury with plans for a tell-all £1million book,

    Family and friends of victim Reeva Steenkamp are said to be “upset and angry” he may cash-in.

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    Before his release this month, Oscar Pistorius had been behind bars since late 2014 for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva SteenkampCredit: Getty
    Pistorius has sparked fury with plans for a tell-all £1million book

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    Pistorius has sparked fury with plans for a tell-all £1million bookCredit: Reuters

    Pistorius, freed on parole last week, spent his years in jail writing his memoirs.

    And the gold medal-winning ex-Paralympic runner is already attracting interest from publishers with fees of up to £1million mooted.

    But under the strict terms of his parole which ban him from speaking to the media Pistorius, 37, would need to get permission from the South African authorities.

    A close family source told The Sun on Sunday: “Oscar spent a lot of time writing.

    READ MORE ON OSCAR PISTORIUS

    “Some prisoners do this to show the parole board that they have accepted what they have done. There are already a lot of publishers that are interested.

    “But publishing a book, and particularly making money out of it, has gone down very badly with Reeva’s family.

    “They desperately want to get on with their lives but this will add to their grief.”

    On Friday, Reeva’s mum June said the pain of her death was still “raw and real”.

    Pistorius, who found religion in prison, served nine years of a 13-year term for shooting dead girlfriend Reeva, 29, on Valentine’s Day 2013.

    A publishing insider said: “A book like that will generate huge money as it will attract film rights.”

    We can also reveal Reeva’s father, who died in November, was unconvinced by a weeping Pistorius and his claims of rehabilitation in a jail meeting last year.

    A source said: “Barry came away still convinced he was a murderer.”

    Reeva’s mum June Steenkamp said the pain of her death was still 'raw and real'

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    Reeva’s mum June Steenkamp said the pain of her death was still ‘raw and real’Credit: EPA

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  • Olympian Oscar Pistorius Freed On Parole After Serving 9 Years For Girlfriend’s Murder

    Olympian Oscar Pistorius Freed On Parole After Serving 9 Years For Girlfriend’s Murder

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    PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was released from prison on parole early Friday morning and was believed to be at his uncle’s mansion after authorities secretly moved the world-famous double-amputee athlete who killed his girlfriend at an undisclosed time to avoid the glare of news crews waiting outside the jail.

    South Africa’s Department of Corrections announced in a two-sentence statement at around 8:30 a.m. that Pistorius had been released and was “now at home.” It gave no more details other than to confirm Pistorius’ new status as “a parolee.”

    Pistorius, 37, served nearly nine years of his murder sentence of 13 years and five months for the fatal shooting of model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013. He became eligible for early release from prison having served at least half his sentence and was approved for parole in November.

    Department of Corrections spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo told The Associated Press that Pistorius was processed according to procedure: taken from the Atteridgeville Correctional Center prison in the South African capital, Pretoria, to a parole office before being released to his family. Nxumalo declined to say what time Pistorius was released and where he was.

    “I can only tell you he was released this morning,” Nxumalo said.

    Pistorius was expected to initially live at his uncle’s home in an upscale Pretoria suburb after his release. A police van was outside that house and a police officer was seen coming out later Friday. The officer declined to comment to reporters. Three black private security vehicles were also parked in front of the mansion.

    The Department of Corrections said ahead of Pistorius’ release that it would not publicize his parole time and he was not going to be “paraded” so as to keep him away from the media that has trailed him since he shot Steenkamp multiple times through a toilet door at his Pretoria villa more than a decade ago.

    Pistorius will live under strict parole conditions until the remainder of his murder sentence expires in December 2029.

    Steenkamp’s mother, June Steenkamp, said in a statement that she had accepted Pistorius’ parole as part of South African law.

    “Has there been justice for Reeva? Has Oscar served enough time? There can never be justice if your loved one is never coming back, and no amount of time served will bring Reeva back,” June Steenkamp said. “We who remain behind are the ones serving a life sentence.”

    “With the release of Oscar Pistorius on parole, my only desire is that I will be allowed to live my last years in peace with my focus remaining on the Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp Foundation, to continue Reeva’s legacy.”

    The Department of Corrections has emphasized that the champion Paralympic sprinter’s release — like every other offender on parole — does not mean that he has served his time.

    Some of Pistorius’ parole conditions include restrictions on when he’s allowed to leave his home, a ban on consuming alcohol, and orders that he must attend programs on anger management and on violence against women. He must also perform community service.

    Pistorius will also have to regularly meet with parole officials and will be subjected to unannounced visits by authorities. He is not allowed to leave the Waterkloof district without permission and is banned from speaking to the media until the end of his sentence. He could be sent back to jail if he is in breach of any of his parole conditions.

    South Africa does not use tags or bracelets on paroled offenders so Pistorius will not wear any monitoring device, Department of Corrections officials said. But he will be constantly monitored by a department official and will have to inform the official of any major changes in his life, such as if he wants to get a job or move to another house.

    Pistorius has maintained that he shot 29-year-old Steenkamp by mistake. He testified that he believed Steenkamp was a dangerous intruder hiding in his bathroom and shot four times through the door with his licensed 9 mm pistol in self-defense.

    Prosecutors said he killed his girlfriend intentionally during a late-night argument.

    Steenkamp’s family did not oppose his parole application in November, although June Steenkamp said in a victim statement submitted to the parole board then that she didn’t believe Pistorius had been fully rehabilitated and was still lying about the killing.

    Before the killing, Pistorius was seen as an inspiring role model after having had both of his legs amputated below the knee as a baby because of a congenital condition. He became a champion sprinter on his carbon-fiber running blades and made history by competing at the 2012 London Olympics.

    His murder trial destroyed his image. He was accused of being prone to angry outbursts and acting recklessly with guns, while witnesses testified about various altercations he had with others, including an argument in which he allegedly threatened to break a man’s legs.

    Pistorius was first convicted of culpable homicide — a charge comparable to manslaughter — and sentenced to five years in prison for killing Steenkamp. After appeals by prosecutors, he was ultimately found guilty of murder and had his sentence increased, although that judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeal still didn’t definitively rule that he knew it was Steenkamp behind the bathroom door.

    Pistorius was first sent to prison in 2014, released on house arrest in 2015 during an appeal, and then sent back to prison in 2016. He was initially incarcerated at the maximum security Kgosi Mampuru II Prison in Pretoria but was moved to Atteridgeville early in his sentence because it’s better suited to holding disabled prisoners.

    Reaction to Pistorius’ parole has been muted in South Africa, a stark contrast to the first days and months after Steenkamp’s killing, which sparked angry protests outside of Pistorius’ court hearings calling for him to receive a long prison sentence. There is no death penalty in South Africa.

    “He has ticked all the necessary boxes,” said Themba Masango, secretary general of Not In My Name International, a group that campaigns against violence against women. “And we can only wish and hope Oscar Pistorius will come out a better human being.”

    “We tend to forget that there is a possibility where somebody can be rehabilitated.”

    Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

    More AP coverage of Oscar Pistorius: https://apnews.com/hub/oscar-pistorius

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  • Former Olympian Oscar Pistorius granted parole

    Former Olympian Oscar Pistorius granted parole

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    Former Olympian Oscar Pistorius granted parole – CBS News


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    Former Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted in South Africa of murder in the 2013 shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, has been granted parole after serving more than 10 years in prison.

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  • Oscar Pistorius, ex-Olympic runner, granted parole more than 10 years after killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

    Oscar Pistorius, ex-Olympic runner, granted parole more than 10 years after killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

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    Johannesburg — Imprisoned former Paralympic gold medalist and Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was granted parole on Friday, but the South African parole board said the decision would not take effect until Jan. 5. The board made its decision on the Olympic runner’s fate more than 10 years after he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines Day 2013.

    The board had been expected to consider his conduct and disciplinary record in prison, his participation in educational or other training courses, his mental and physical state, whether they believed he was likely to relapse into crime and the risk he poses to the public. 

    South Africa’s national Department of Correctional Services said in a statement that the parole made its decision, “having assessed Mr. Pistorius’ profile and other material submitted for the purposes of parole consideration,” and noted that he was a “first time offender with a positive support system.”

    Steenkamp’s mother June did not address the parole board directly Friday, but a representative read out a family impact statement in which June said: “Rehabilitation requires someone to engage honestly, with the full truth of his crime and the consequences thereof. Nobody can claim to have remorse if they’re not able to engage fully with the truth.”


    “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, convicted in murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, up for parole

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    The Department of Correctional Services said the athlete would “complete the remainder of the sentence in the system of community corrections and will be subjected to supervision in compliance with parole conditions until his sentence expires.”

    Social workers inspected his uncle Arno Pistorius’ property in Pretoria earlier this year, which is where he’ll serve out the remainder of his sentence under the parole conditions. The terms of parole vary in South Africa but can include an electronic tag to monitor movements and a ban on making money from media interviews about the individual’s incarceration.   

    The televised 2014 trial had viewers around the world glued to the courtroom video feed as prosecutors argued that the athlete, known as the “Blade Runner” for his carbon-fiber prosthetic legs, had deliberately shot his girlfriend through a locked bathroom door. Pistorius maintained throughout that it was a terrible accident and that he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder.

    He was ultimately convicted of murder after prosecutors successfully appealed an initial conviction for culpable homicide, a lesser charge comparable to manslaughter in the U.S. He was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison in 2017, which took into account time he’d already served behind bars during the appeal process.  

    The double amputee, who turned 37 on Wednesday, lost his first bid for parole in March when the Department of Correctional service said he had not completed the minimum detention period to be eligible for parole. Inmates in South Africa must serve half their sentence to be eligible. Authorities decided in March that half of Pistorius’ sentence would be measured from his last conviction, but the Constitutional Court overturned that ruling last month, saying the date must be determined from the first day an inmate begins serving time in prison.  

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    Reeva Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius

    Pistorius has been serving his sentence at Atteridgeville Prison, west of Pretoria. 

    The year before he killed his model girlfriend, Pistorius was a star of the London Olympics, achieving global recognition for being the first double amputee to run against able-bodied sprinters.

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  • Oscar Pistorius denied parole | CNN

    Oscar Pistorius denied parole | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Disgraced South African Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was denied parole on Friday, according to local authorities who said he has yet to complete his minimum sentence.

    According to South African law, inmates can be considered for parole after serving half of their sentence if they meet conditions, like good behavior in prison.

    The former Olympic sprinter shot his partner Reeva Steenkamp four times through the bathroom door of his house in 2013, denying that he killed her in a fit of anger and saying instead he had mistaken her for an intruder. He was originally sentenced to 13 years and five months imprisonment.

    A spokesperson for South Africa’s Correctional Services, Singabakho Nxumalo, told CNN that Pistorius’ submission for parole was not granted because he was not yet eligible – an issue clarified by the country’s top appeals court earlier this week.

    “The parole board has granted Mr. Pistorius a further profile for August 2024 and the reason behind that is that Mr. Pistorius is yet to serve a minimum detention period as per the clarification order provided by the Supreme Court of Appeal, which was only provided to the department on the 28th of March 2023,” Nxumalo said.

    Pistorius must now continue to serve his sentence until a new parole hearing in August 2024.

    The parole board’s decision was quickly hailed by Steenkamp’s parents, who had opposed an early release, according to their lawyer.

    “While we welcome today’s decision, today is not a cause for celebration. We miss Reeva terribly and will do so for the rest of our lives. We believe in justice and hope that it continues to prevail,” their lawyer Tania Koen told CNN.

    In 2018, the athlete’s father Henke Pistorius told the UK’s Times newspaper that he ran bible classes and prayer groups for prisoners, including the jail’s most feared gang leader.

    To be eligible for parole, Pistorius had to participate in South Africa’s “Restorative Justice” process, which gives offenders the opportunity to “acknowledge and take responsibility for their actions.”

    The athlete – once feted as an inspirational figure after competing in the 2012 Olympics – became the center of a trial that was followed around the world.

    During the trial, Pistorius pleaded not guilty to one charge of murder and a firearms charge associated with Steenkamp’s killing.

    Prosecutors argued her killing was deliberate and that the shooting happened after the couple had an argument.

    He frequently broke down in court and his past behavior was closely scrutinized.

    Pistorius was convicted of manslaughter in 2014 and sentenced to five years. But a higher court overturned the conviction and changed it to murder a year later, increasing his sentence to six years in prison.

    The ruling was appealed by prosecutors who claimed the sentence was too lenient. Pistorius’ sentence was increased to 13 years and five months by South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal in 2017.

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  • Oscar Pistorius up for parole today decade after murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in South Africa

    Oscar Pistorius up for parole today decade after murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in South Africa

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    Johannesburg — Former Olympic runner and Paralympic gold medalist Oscar Pistorius is up for parole. South Africa’s parole board was meeting Friday to decide if Pistorius would be released from prison more than 10 years after he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. 

    The board will consider his conduct and disciplinary record in prison, his participation in educational or other training courses during the last decade of incarceration, and his mental and physical state to assess whether Pistorius, now 36, would still pose a threat to public safety.

    As Steenkamp’s mother June arrived Friday at the parole hearing, she was asked if she believed Pistorius was remorseful. 

    “No. Never,” she said. “It’s very hard to be in the same room as him.” 

    SAFRICA-CRIME-PISTORIUS
    The mother of Reeva Steenkamp, June Steenkamp smiles as she arrives at the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in Pretoria, South Africa, March 31, 2023, ahead of Oscar Pistorius’ parole hearing.

    PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP/Getty


    Steenkamp’s parents were to address the parole board to voice their opposition to Pistorius being granted early parole. 

    “We don’t believe his story,” June Steenkamp told reporters as her car pulled into the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in Pretoria on Friday.  

    The 2014murder trial kept viewers around the world glued to the live courtroom broadcast as prosecutors argued that the elite athlete had deliberately shot his girlfriend through a locked bathroom door in the middle of the night.

    pistorius.jpg
    A picture taken on January 26, 2013 shows Olympian sprinter Oscar Pistorius posing next to his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg.

    WALDO SWIEGERS/AFP/Getty


    Pistorius maintained throughout that it was a terrible accident and that he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder. He was ultimately convicted of murder after prosecutors successfully appealed an initial conviction for culpable homicide, which is comparable to manslaughter. He was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison in 2017, which took into account just over a year he had already served during the appeal process. 

    Social workers have already inspected his uncle Arno Pistorius’ property in Pretoria, which is where he would serve out the remainder of his sentence if parole is granted.

    Oscar Pistorius Gets Six Years Jail Time in South Africa
    Police escort Oscar Pistorius before his sentencing at the Northern Gauteng High Court, in Pretoria, South Africa, July 6, 2016, for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

    Foto24/Getty


    The terms of parole vary in South Africa but could include an electronic tag to monitor his movements and a ban on making money from media interviews about his incarceration.   

    Pistorius was last up for parole in 2021, but his request was denied on technical grounds as he had not met with Steenkamp’s family as required under South Africa’s parole rules. That meeting has since taken place, but Steenkamp’s parents remain unconvinced that Pistorius has taken responsibility for his actions.  

    Steenkamp’s mother had indicated before Friday that, along with her husband, she would oppose Pistorius’ early release, arguing that unless he admits he deliberately killed their daughter, he can’t be deemed to have shown remorse. 


    “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, convicted in murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, up for parole

    02:33

    The year before the murder, Pistorius was a star at the London Olympics, achieving global recognition for becoming the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied sprinters. His prowess on twin carbon-fiber prosthetics earned him the nickname “Blade Runner.”

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  • Today in History: November 24, Ruby shoots Oswald

    Today in History: November 24, Ruby shoots Oswald

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    Today in History

    Today is Thursday, Nov. 24, the 328th day of 2022. There are 37 days left in the year. Today is Thanksgiving.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Nov. 24, 1963, Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, in a scene captured on live television.

    On this date:

    In 1859, British naturalist Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” which explained his theory of evolution by means of natural selection.

    In 1865, Mississippi became the first Southern state to enact laws which came to be known as “Black Codes” aimed at limiting the rights of newly freed Blacks; other states of the former Confederacy soon followed.

    In 1941, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Edwards v. California, unanimously struck down a California law prohibiting people from bringing impoverished non-residents into the state.

    In 1947, a group of writers, producers and directors that became known as the “Hollywood Ten” was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about alleged Communist influence in the movie industry. John Steinbeck’s novel “The Pearl” was first published.

    In 1971, a hijacker calling himself “Dan Cooper” (but who became popularly known as “D.B. Cooper”) parachuted from a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 over the Pacific Northwest after receiving $200,000 in ransom; his fate remains unknown.

    In 1974, the bone fragments of a 3.2 million-year-old hominid were discovered by scientists in Ethiopia; the skeletal remains were nicknamed “Lucy.”

    In 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed on terms to scrap shorter- and medium-range missiles. (The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev the following month.)

    In 1989, Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu (chow-SHES’-koo) was unanimously re-elected Communist Party chief. (Within a month, he was overthrown in a popular uprising and executed along with his wife, Elena, on Christmas Day.)

    In 1991, rock singer Freddie Mercury died in London at age 45 of AIDS-related pneumonia.

    In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped into the bitter, overtime struggle for the White House, agreeing to consider George W. Bush’s appeal against the hand recounting of ballots in Florida.

    In 2014, it was announced that a grand jury in St. Louis County, Missouri, had decided against indicting Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown; the decision enraged protesters who set fire to buildings and cars and looted businesses in the area where Brown had been fatally shot.

    In 2020, Pennsylvania officials certified Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential vote in the state; the Trump campaign had gone to court trying to prevent the certification. The Nevada Supreme Court made Biden’s win in the state official. County election workers across Georgia began an official machine recount of the roughly 5 million votes cast in the presidential race in the state; certified results had shown Biden winning in Georgia by 12,670 votes.

    Ten years ago: Fire raced through a garment factory in Bangladesh that supplied major retailers in the West, killing 112 people; an official said many of the victims were trapped because the eight-story building lacked emergency exits. Former championship boxer Hector “Macho” Camacho died at a hospital in Puerto Rico after doctors disconnected life support; he’d been shot in his hometown of Bayamon earlier in the week.

    Five years ago: Militants attacked a crowded mosque in Egypt with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, killing more than 300 people in the deadliest-ever attack by Islamic extremists in the country. Zimbabwe swore in its new leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa, after the resignation of President Robert Mugabe, who had fired his longtime deputy just two and a half weeks earlier. South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal increased the prison sentence of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius to 13 years and five months in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, more than doubling the original six-year sentence.

    One year ago: Three men were convicted of murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, the Black man who was running through a Georgia subdivision in February 2020 when the white strangers chased him, trapped him on a quiet street and blasted him with a shotgun. At least 27 people died when a boat carrying migrants across the English Channel to Britain sank a few miles from the French coast.

    Today’s Birthdays: Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson is 84. Country singer Johnny Carver is 82. Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue (TAG’-lee-uh-boo) is 82. Rock drummer Pete Best is 81. Actor-comedian Billy Connolly is 80. Former White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater is 80. Former congressman and Motion Picture Association of America Chairman Dan Glickman is 78. Singer Lee Michaels is 77. Actor Dwight Schultz is 75. Actor Stanley Livingston is 72. Rock musician Clem Burke (Blondie; The Romantics) is 68. Actor/director Ruben Santiago-Hudson is 66. Actor Denise Crosby is 65. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is 63. Actor Shae D’Lyn is 60. Rock musician John Squire (The Stone Roses) is 60. Rock musician Gary Stonadge (Big Audio) is 60. Actor Conleth Hill is 58. Actor-comedian Brad Sherwood is 58. Actor Garret Dillahunt is 58. Actor-comedian Scott Krinsky is 54. Rock musician Chad Taylor (Live) is 52. Actor Lola Glaudini is 51. Actor Danielle Nicolet is 49. Actor-writer-director-producer Stephen Merchant is 48. Actor Colin Hanks is 45. Actor Katherine Heigl (HY’-guhl) is 44. Actor Sarah Hyland is 32.

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