Valentines Day Blues: Oscar Pistorius will be back - soon

09 February 2021,  Allan Lesesa 401
Oscar Pistorius might be walking the South African streets again soon - pun intended😜.

The famous convicted murderer will be eligible to apply for parole in March of 2023.

A brief reminder: Oscar fatally shot his girlfriend on valentines day in 2013. Initially, he was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for a culpable homicide conviction, however, the State appealed such a conviction and sentence and as a result, the Supreme Court of Appeal changed the conviction and sentence to that of murder in 2017. Effectively- he was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment.

Generally - a convicted person becomes eligible to apply for parole after having spent at least half of their sentence in prison. Oscar was going to be legible only in 2025/26 or so.
However, in a recent application and the SCA's decision to amend its pronounced prison term for Oscar Pistorius, it considered and included the more than 500 days that he had already served in prison. This means that Oscar's parole eligibility will come sooner. In March 2023 to be exact.

Undoubtedly, this is good news for the paralympian, his family and all those who perhaps happen to sympathize with him.

On the other hand, the timing and decision of the SCA, given that it is on the eve of valentines day, the anniversary of Reeva Steenkamp's gruesome death, this sadly comes at an unfortunate and painful time for the family and others.

Talk about "valentines blues"- a real ache for some, a cause for joy for others: Oscar Pistorius might be walking free soon.
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