Pistorious will be living in luxury
In a leafy suburb outside South Africa’s capital Pretoria is a threestorey mansion, boasting sweeping verandas, landscaped grounds and a swimming pool.
This is the luxury home of Oscar Pistorius’s uncle, where the Paralympic gold medallist will return this week after serving just 10 months of the five- year prison sentence for killing Reeva Steenkamp.
The double- amputee, known as the “Blade Runner” because of the carbon- fibre prosthetics he used on the track, will be released from Pretoria’s Kgosi Mampuru II Prison on Aug. 21.
On release, the 28- year- old will live at his uncle’s house in Waterkloof. It is known as an “old money” neighbourhood, housing the city’s elite as well as several diplomatic residences.
Pistorius’s time in jail has done little to elicit sympathy in a country where millions live in extreme poverty.” He won’t exactly suffer much will he?” said John, a gardener in Waterkloof, gesturing with a cigarette toward the spacious home.
During the trial last year, the prosecution failed to convince the judge that Pistorius deliberately killed 29- year- old Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013, when he shot four rounds through a locked bathroom door. The court accepted the athlete’s justification that he had mistaken her for a burglar.
The disgraced former track star was instead convicted of culpable homicide, South Africa’s equivalent of manslaughter, and sentenced to five years in prison. He is eligible for early release under a law that allows for an offender to be considered for house arrest after serving one sixth of their sentence.
Under the terms of his release, he will be banned from alcohol or handling guns, and subject to unannounced blood tests.
His parole is also expected to include an element of rehabilitation and community service. Pistorius has said he wanted to work with children — possibly at his uncle’s school in Mozambique — but he is unlikely to be allowed to leave South Africa.
Brian Webber, his lawyer, said details of his release were still being finalized.
Whatever happens, he will have to get used to being a pariah to a significant sector of society, according to John Carlin, author of Chase Your Shadows, a book chronicling the trial.
“He will be anxious to know how the media will respond to his release and how ordinary people will relate to him, whether there will be a big sense of outrage at the brevity of his time in prison given that he did kill a person,” he said.
During his testimony, he broke down in tears and loud sobs showing what seemed to be, some remorse. But during the trial, the athlete’s personality was laid bare as the prosecution depicted him as a controlling, gun- toting hothead. Judge Thokozile Masipa described him as a “very poor witness” during the cross- examination when he contradicted himself.
“People were divided after he testified but under cross- examination, when people saw he was a liar, he lost favour with the public,” said Laurie James- Pieters, a criminologist. “Where do you put him where he is not exposed to angry people? He is safer in prison.”
He is currently separated from the general prison population for his own safety. Concern about his mental health motivated prison authorities to keep the Paralympian under suicide watch.
Several sources say that the athlete has lost weight, due to the prison diet and a lack of intensive exercise. According to local media reports, he struck up a friendship with Radovan Krejcir — a Czech fugitive accused of kidnapping, attempted murder and drug dealing.