The country’s prisons department said in a statement that the Department of Correctional Services (is) able to confirm that Oscar Pistorius is a parolee, effectively from 5 January 2024.

Johannesburg: In a significant development, former Paralympian from South Africa Oscar Pistorius was on Friday released from jail on parole, nearly 11 years after the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day. Known as the ‘Blade Runner’ for his carbon-fibre prosthetic legs, Oscar Pistorius had shot his 29-year-old girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead through a locked bathroom door on Valentine’s Day in 2013.

However, Oscar Pistorius had repeatedly said that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he fired four shots into the bathroom at his Pretoria home, and he made multiple appeals against his conviction on that basis.

The country’s prisons department said in a statement that the Department of Correctional Services (is) able to confirm that Oscar Pistorius is a parolee, effectively from 5 January 2024. It said Oscar Pistorius was admitted into the system of Community Corrections and is now at home.

Aged 37, Oscar Pistorius has spent about eight and a half years in jail as well as seven months under home arrest before he was sentenced on murder charges. Earlier, the parole board in November decided he could be freed after completing more than half his sentence.

In the meantime, Reeva’s mother June said in a statement: “There can never be justice if your loved one is never coming back, and no amount of time served will bring Reeva back.”

“We, who remain behind, are the ones serving a life sentence,” June Steenkamp said, adding her only desire was to be allowed to live in peace after Pistorius’ release on parole.