After spending 11 years in prison for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, former South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was released on parole on Friday.
On February 14, 2013, the famous athlete made headlines around the world when he murdered Steenkamp, 29, a model and law school graduate, by shooting four times through the bathroom door of their Pretoria home.
AND statement issued South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services confirmed on Friday “that Oscar Pistorius has now been released on parole, effective January 5, 2024. He has been admitted to the prison system and is now at home.”
The Department of Legal Services did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
A double amputee known as the “Blade Runner” for the state-of-the-art prosthetic legs that saw him win at top speeds said he fired his gun because he thought there was an intruder in their home. He pleaded not guilty, but prosecutors claimed he deliberately killed her in a fit of rage.
In 2014, he was convicted of manslaughter, not murder, and sentenced to five years in prison.
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Reeva Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius.
He appealed, but in 2015 the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the previous conviction and found him guilty of murder. In 2016, he was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison for the murder of Steenkamp.
After his release on Friday, Steenkamp’s mother, June Steenkamp, released a statement in which, according to the BBC, she said in part: “Was there justice for Reeva? Has Oscar served enough time? There can never be justice if is your loved one will never come back, and no amount of time served will bring Reev back. We, who are left, are serving a life sentence.”
June also described her wishes for her late daughter’s future and legacy.
“My only wish is to be allowed to live out my final years in peace with a focus on the Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp Foundation, to carry on Reeva’s legacy,” she said.
In an interview broadcast in 2016 on REELZ, shortly before the sentencing, an emotional Pistorius reflected on his actions in 2013.
“I took Reeva’s life and I have to live with that,” he said through tears. “I smell blood. I feel his warmth on my hands. And to know that it’s your fault, that you did it.
Oscar Pistorius is due to be released from prison in January, almost 11 years after he was convicted of murder
“And I understand the pain felt by the people who loved her and miss her,” he added. “I feel the same pain, I feel the same self-hatred, I feel the same difficulty in understanding this. I look back and I think – I always think, how did that even happen?” Pistorius was granted parole on November 24 and was due to be released after serving half of his sentence.
He will serve the remainder of his sentence in the South African correctional system, South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services (DCS) said in November, Reuters reported.
He will remain under DCS supervision until the end of his sentence in December 2029, Reuters writes.
Under the terms of his parole, Pistorius will report to a parole officer and must notify the officer if he moves or gets a job, the BBC reported. Pistorius will have to attend classes on gender-based violence and continue with anger management therapy, a lawyer for the Steenkamp family told Reuters.
During a parole board hearing in November, June said in a letter that she was concerned that Pistorius’ “huge anger problem” was being thoroughly dealt with in prison, the BBC reported.
In a statement, she said she would be “concerned for the safety of any woman” who comes into contact with him, reports the BBC.
Earlier this year, Reeva’s father and June’s husband, Barry Steenkamp, died, she noted in a statement.
“My dear Barry left this world completely devastated by the thought that he failed to protect his daughter,” she said in a statement, according to the media outlet.
“I have no doubt that he died of a broken heart,” the statement said.
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