After battling for parole in August, Oscar Pistorius, the South African paralympic star who shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp three years ago, is finally set to leave prison for house arrest next Tuesday (Oct.20).
The Kgosi Mampuru prison parole board met today (Oct. 15) to approve his release, roughly one year after Pistorius was sentenced to five years for culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter.
Pistorius had previously been cleared for early release in August, but South Africa’s minister of justice, Michael Masutha, postponed Pistorius’ parole date, arguing in a statement that the decision to release him was “made prematurely.”
According to South African law, a person sentenced for an offence may only be considered for release on parole after having served “at least one sixth” of their sentence—for Pistorius, that would be equal to 10 months. When the parole board initially met on June 5 to decide on Pistorius’ parole, he had only served six months of his sentence.
While Pistorius is expected to serve the rest of his five year sentence at his uncle’s home outside South Africa’s capital city, Pretoria, his legal woes are far from over. Next month, prosecutors will appeal against his murder charge acquittal.