JOHANNESBURG (AP) – Prison officials have recommended that Oscar Pistorius, who killed his girlfriend, be released from prison Aug. 21 for good behavior after serving just 10 months and be moved to house arrest, the head of correctional services said on Monday
The news emerged the same day the country’s Supreme Court of Appeal announced the prosecution’s appeal against Pistorius’ acquittal on a murder charge for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp would be heard in November.
Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympic athlete, was found guilty of culpable homicide for shooting Steenkamp multiple times through a closed toilet door in his home in 2013. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Under South African law, he is eligible to be released under conditions after serving one-sixth of his sentence, which is 10 months in this case.
Acting National Commissioner of Correctional Services Zach Modise said Monday that a prison committee recommended last week that Pistorius be released from the prison in Pretoria on Aug. 21, exactly 10 months after he was sentenced and meaning he will have served the minimum amount of jail time his sentence required.
Modise said the committee made the recommendation on the basis of Pistorius’ good behavior in the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in the capital, Pretoria, where he has been incarcerated since Oct. 21.