Sports Briefs
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OSCAR Pistorius, Olympic and paralympic athlete, jailed for killing his girlfriend, is to be freed from prison to house arrest on Tuesday, October 20, a South African parole board said in a statement on Thursday, October 14.
Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison in 2014 after being found guilty of culpable homicide, or manslaughter having shot Reeva Steenkamp, his girlfriend, through a locked bathroom door.
The prosecution has appealed, saying he should instead be convicted of murder and that case is expected to be heard on November 3.
In any case, Pistorius, who has spent 12 months in jail and will now spend the rest of his sentence under what is termed in South Africa “correctional supervision,” the parole board said.
An earlier decision to release him in August was blocked by Michael Masutha, South Africa’s Justice minister, who said it had been made “prematurely.”
At the time, Steenkamp’s family had said that 10 months in jail was “not enough.”
The double-amputee shot and killed his girlfriend, who worked as a model, on February 14, 2013. The killing attracted worldwide attention and his trial was broadcast live both domestically and around the world.
— Oct 26, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT
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