The Constitutional Court has confirmed that Paralympian and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius qualified for parole in March this year. The highest court in the land ruled on Monday that Pistorius has already served half of his 13 years imprisonment for killing his then girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013 in Pretoria.
There was confusion at his parole hearing earlier this year, where the former Paralympian was widely expected to be released. He then approached the apex court to challenge the parole board’s decision that he was not eligible to be released.
The Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo has confirmed that they have received an order from the Concourt on the proper interpretation of the Supreme Court of Appeal’s judgment on Pistorius’s sentence.
“Briefly the matter relates to the sentence given to inmate Oscar Leonard Pistorius, its effective date, and the impact on the calculation of the minimum detention period,” Nxumalo said.
He added that the department is studying the order and will in due course pronounce the way forward.
Meanwhile, speaking on YouFM Newshour current affairs programme, legal analyst Mpumelelo Zikalala, said the ConCourt’s ruling means that Pistorius rights were violated, for the past six months he spent behind bars.
“Because he would have suffered some prejudice due to the six months that this assessment could have taken place. He can even argue that probably by now I could have been out and able to leave my life out of the bounds of prison. His rights were indeed violated,” highlighted Zikalala.