Cape Town – Oscar Pistorius’s family has expressed their desire for answers after it was revealed during his parole hearing proceedings that he had not served the minimum detention term.
The paralympic champ was denied parole on Friday after seeking early release from prison —a decade after he shot and killed his girlfriend — lawyers and authorities said.
The Department of Correctional Services said a parole board found Pistorius had not completed the minimum detention period required to be let out.
He will only be eligible to parole next year.
Pistorius is serving a 13 and half year sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp during the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013 in a killing that shocked the world.
His disappointed family wanted an explanation with regards to how the Department of Justice got the amount of time Oscar served wrong.
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The report said that the family wanted to know how the department determined Pistorius’s detention term as they believe he had already served the minimum sentence, eNCA reports.
Legal expert Ulrich Roux said the fact that he had been sentenced three times in the matter has sparked confusion.
“But the sentence that is of importance is the final sentence handed down by the Supreme Court of Appeal which confirmed that he was convicted of murder and that he should serve a minimum period of imprisonment of 15 years, but then also taking into account the time that he had already served.” the report quoted.
The Correctional Services Department has reportedly said that despite his public profile, Pistorius will not receive any special treatment regarding his parole application.
Correctional Services spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo said Pistorius will be treated like other inmates and be subjected to the same process, reported EWN.
“But when they’re inside our facilities we must make it a point that at no point they may either feel special or feel they are being ill-treated because of that elevated public profile. Hence the process remains the same, must be applied the same way and it has to be fair to the inmates,” the report quoted Nxumalo as saying.
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
