Oscar Pistorius attends his grandmother’s burial
Department frees ex-Paralympian for a few hours
Former Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was released from prison for a few hours yesterday to attend the funeral of his late maternal grandmother Joyce Bekker.
This was confirmed by the Department of Correctional Services’ Singabakho Nxumalo. “I just received an update from the head of centre that he received an application [from Oscar Pistorius’ family] to attend the funeral and they granted him permission.
“I was told at about 1.20pm that the funeral is finished and he is now back in prison to continue with his sentence,” Nxumalo said.
Earlier yesterday‚ Pistorius’ brother Carl confirmed a service would be held for their grandmother who died last week at the age of 93.
At the time‚ he said the family wasn’t sure whether their brother would be attending the funeral or not.
However‚ he later confirmed Pistorius had been granted permission and was present to pay his last respects to their grandmother.
“The funeral service went well. It was a really beautiful service as it was a great celebration of her life well lived [and] I was really happy to see my brother‚” Carl said.
The funeral was held at the St Michael’s Anglican Church in Bryanston‚ Johannesburg.
Last October‚ Pistorius attended the funeral of his paternal grandmother Gerti Pistorius‚ who was 92 years old.
Pistorius received permission in terms of the departmental policy on amenities of inmates, which grants privileges to offenders.
This policy was introduced primarily to encourage offenders to exercise good behaviour‚ to instil a sense of responsibility and to ensure their interest and cooperation in the integration into detention and treatment programmes.
Pistorius is serving six years for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.