Kaya News Reporter
Convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius is set to contend for his parole, as confirmed by his attorney Julian Knight.
Pistorius was initially sentenced to five years in 2014, for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013.
His sentence was increased to 15-years by the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2015.
Pistorius was eligible for parole in February last year and was moved to a Gqeberha prison to commence with “victim offender dialogue” (VOD).
This is where a meeting with Reeva’s parents, June and Barry Steenkamp and Pistorius was set to take place.
However, his lawyer said there has been no progress since then and Pistorius is growing impatient with the stalled parole process.
“Offenders are considered for parole at one half of their sentence, the 13-years and 5-months sentence that Oscar received, half of his sentence served has already expired. So, we’re in a position where he is eligible for consideration to be placed on parole,” Knight shared.
According to Knight, the Department of Correctional Services made arrangements for the Steenkamps to come to Pretoria.
After Reeva’s parents shared that they didn’t have the means to travel to Pretoria, Oscar was moved to Gqeberha in November last year to initiate the victim offender dialogue.
Julian Knight explained that if the Steenkamps are not ready to go through the VOD process, Oscar Pistorius does not want to force this on them.
“The victim offender dialogue is not a pre-requisite to placement on parole, neither is the consent of the victim’s surviving family,” said Julian Knight.
Meanwhile, Tania Koen, the Steenkamp’s attorney is in discussion with the Appeals Court because they believe an error has been made with the calculation of Pistorius’ time served.
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