Pretoria - While life outside prison is a real possibility for Oscar Pistorius – even as soon as the weekend – his father, Henke Pistorius, is not counting his chickens before they have hatched.
Speaking to the Pretoria News on the eve of his son’s parole hearing today, he said whether Oscar would be released at this stage was in the parole board’s hands.
“I have no idea what will happen, as the parole board is an independent organisation. Deep down, we believe he will be home soon, but until the parole board has spoken the word, I don't want to get my hopes up.
“We are excited about the prospect of having him home. This has been a disrupted and difficult time for us.”
Pistorius said that Oscar would, once released, live with his uncle Arnold Pistorius, Henke Pistorius’s brother. He had a cottage on Arnold’s Waterkloof property, where he had also lived during the trial.
Henke Pistorius said that all Arnold’s children were out of the house and it was therefore the natural place for Oscar to live.
Tania Koen, the lawyer acting on behalf of Reeva Steenkamp’s parents, June and Barry, said that June would attend the parole hearing today at the Atteridgeville Prison, where the former paralympic was incarcerated.
She said that Barry could not attend due to ill health.
“June will make representations on behalf of herself and Barry during the hearing,” Koen said.
As in other parole hearings, this will also be a closed session.
“We are entitled to attend the parole hearing if we wanted to, or to deliver written submissions if we wanted to. These are rights which the family of victims have.” Koen said.
Earlier, Oscar met Barry Steenkamp, Reeva’s father, as part of a victim and offender dialogue.
It is part of restorative justice and forms part of the record before the parole board.
Today’s hearing follows an uphill battle by Oscar Pistorius to be reconsidered for parole.
He launched an application last year but the hearing never went ahead as the matter was removed from the court roll by agreement.
The Supreme Court of Appeal cleared the confusion over his time spent in jail following the various appeals and orders that it had issued.
In papers filed in his application to compel the parole board to convene and to consider his parole, Oscar said that he was eligible to be considered for parole in February 2021 as he had served half his prison sentence.
But prison authorities said in their court papers that, according to their calculations, he would have served half his sentence at the end of this month.
Oscar was convicted in 2014 on a charge of culpable homicide following the Valentine’s Day 2013 shooting of Reeva in his home. This was later overturned on appeal and replaced with a verdict of murder, for which he was given 15 years. Time was, however, subtracted for the stint he did in jail while serving his culpable homicide sentence.
It is unclear when Oscar will be released, if the parole board agrees to it, as it has to deliberate on the issue first.
But statements from experts, such as a social worker and others, have submitted reports in favour of Oscar’s parole.
Advocate Francoise Botes, who is a legal expert, said that the aim of parole was to afford prisoners the opportunity to once again integrate with the community. “The sentence still remains in place and is strictly spoken, still being served, but not in a prison.”
The sentence would be served under parole conditions stipulated by the parole board. The conditions could vary, but it usually )included that a prisoner must have a fixed address where they sleep at night.
Usually, they were not allowed to leave the area in which they lived are and their movements wee strictly monitored by a parole officer. The parole office would pay them surprise visits at their home.
Botes said that if a person did not adhere to their parole conditions, they could be taken promptly back to prison.
Alcohol was also a no-no and, importantly, the person had to toe the line, Botes said.
He said the parole board made its decision within 24 to 48 hours after a hearing. Thereafter, an administrative process followed in order to capture all the person’s details.
Pretoria News