The family of Reeva Steenkamp has described as profoundly unfortunate the decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal to amend the prison term for Paralympian and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius. He is now eligible for parole in March 2023.
It has emerged that the judgment which saw his culpable homicide conviction turned to one of murder and the subsequent sentencing, failed to take into account the more than 500 days he had already served in prison.
Pistorius killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentines day in 2013. He was initially found guilty of culpable homicide in 2016 but when the State appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal it was then changed to murder in 2017.
Legal journalist Karyn Maughan says, “The SCA now correcting its ruling in a decision that will have significance for both Pistorius and the family of Reeva Steenkamp. I have spoken to their lawyer, they issued a statement basically saying that no one had even made them aware of this and the timing was profoundly unfortunate. You know we are approaching, I think the 7th or 8th year anniversary of Reeva Steenkamp’s death on the 14th of February and so you know this kind of news, this being put back into the public spotlight because of this order by the appeal court is obviously quite painful.”
Senior legal reporter, Karyn Maughn shares more:
