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Oscar Pistorius

Oscar Pistorius82 posts

Oscar Pistorius is a South African Olympic and Paralympic athlete born in Johannesburg in 1986. He is the first amputee to win a World Championships in Athletics medal and the first double-leg amputee to compete in both the Paralympics and Olympics. He holds Paralympic gold medals in the 100, 200, and 400-meter sprints and 100-meter relay, and has competed in the Olympic 400-meter sprint and 400-meter relay. On Oct. 21, 2014, he was sentenced to five years in prison for the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

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3 Dec, 2015

Murder conviction

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Pistorius is found guilty of murder after a South African appeals court overturns his earlier manslaughter verdict. The appeal court says last year’s verdict was “confusing and flawed” and that the lower court did not correctly apply the rule of dolus eventualis – whether Pistorius knew that a death would be a likely result of his actions. The athlete will now be re-sentenced by the original court and will almost certainly go back to jail. The minimum sentence for murder in South Africa is 15 years, but judges can apply some discretion.

19 Oct, 2015

Released one day early

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After 11 months, Pistorius is released from Kgosi Mampuru II jail at 8pm by a member of his legal team and taken to correctional services headquarters where he meets his parole officer. After processing he is taken to his uncle’s villa in Pretoria, where he has a private cottage. He will be kept under house arrest. The conditions of his parole are not released.

15 Oct, 2015

Release to house arrest in days

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A parole board decides Pistorius will be released from prison and moved to house arrest within days. He has already served nearly one year of a five year sentence. Pistorius will live in his uncle’s mansion, continue to receive psychotherapy, and not be allowed to possess a firearm. He will not be required to wear an electronic tagging device.

23 Aug, 2015

Parents: Steenkamp was leaving Pistorius

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Steenkamp’s parents, Barry and June, say she had packed her bags and was ready to leave Oscar Pistorius the day he shot and killed her. June:

He killed her. He admits he killed her…She is dead after [Pistorius made] sure she was dead. Why didn’t he just let her walk away?

Barry:

What actually came out in court is not the truth. We know what we heard there is not right…People actually heard the screams and when he realised that had happened he couldn’t stop. He had to carry on until it was finished.

On the upcoming Supreme Court appeal:

It is not finished – not finished I feel by a long way – and I can only give you my feelings after the final verdict. If the outcome is going to be a longer sentence, are we going to feel better? I don’t know. All we want is the truth to come out in the real justice side of the whole scenario

Pistorius has tried to contact them but they are not ready to talk to him. June:

All I want you to realise is that you have ruined our lives. You’ve taken her life, her possible marriage, or having a baby – our grandchild. You’ve taken her career away… You’ve taken the most precious thing out of our lives.

12 Aug, 2015

To be released after 10 months

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Pistorius will be released from jail next week after serving 10 months of his five year sentence for killing Steenkamp. While he did not apply for release himself, the parole board at Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria where he is being held has recommended he be released into the community at the first opportunity. Pistorius will reportedly live under effective house arrest at his uncle Arnold’s home in Waterkloof, Pretoria. He will be required to do community service, take part in regular mental health checks, refrain from drinking alcohol, and his travel will be restricted. Steenkamp famly:

We do not seek to avenge her death and we do not want Mr Pistorius to suffer; that will not bring her back to us. However, a person found guilty of a crime must be held accountable for their actions. Statistics show that our society is under continuous attack from criminals and murderers. Incarceration of 10 months for taking a life is simply not enough. We fear that this will not send out the proper message and serve as the deterrent it should.

Pistorius’ case remains subject to a Supreme Court appeal hearing in November, when prosecutors will argue that his conviction should be scaled up to murder – and a minimum 15-year jail term.

2 Dec, 2014

Brother talks about life in prison

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Carl Pistorius says Pistorius is not receiving special treatment in Kgosi Mampuru II jail despite his disability. He does not have a personal bathroom but has been given a stool to shower on in the communal bathroom, and is confined to his cell for 17 hours a day and not allowed to come and go as he pleases, but has created relationships with other prisoners and wants to start a basketball program. Carl Pistorius:

He often gives fellow prisoners in the hospital wing, mostly recovering from tuberculosis, advice on how to exercise and to strengthen their bodies… He’s encountering many beautiful stories from prisoners. There are people there who have committed crimes but whose lives have changed.

1 Dec, 2014

Relying on donations for baked beans

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Pistorius’s brother, Carl, says Pistorius is relying on donations of loose change from visitors to buy cans of baked beans and pilchards in Kgosi Mpuru prison. He hasn’t been given a private bathroom although the social worker recommended one for him. He is starting a basketball team and has asked family members to donate balls instead of giving him gifts for his birthday, and is waiting for permission from the director of correctional services to start the team. Carl says Pistorius and his family are still hoping he will be released to house arrest but they are taking it moment by moment:

There are surely desires in his heart, and over time they’ll change. But he now lives moment by moment. There’s no fairy tale.

21 Nov, 2014

Steenkamp’s mother interview

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June Steenkamp tells Outlook on the BBC World Service that she thinks Pistorius terrorized her daughter. (Program link here). She says Pistoirus’s apology ‘meant nothing,’ and she ignored it. The family were worried when Reeva Steenkamp moved to Johannesburg from Port Elizabeth as the capital is considered much more dangerous, and she says Pistorius tried to control Reeva and make her into ‘arm candy’. The family also were evicted from their house after media revealed they had no money, and this is why they took payments from Pistorius including during the trial. She says she will set up the Reeva Steenkamp Foundation for Abused Women:

We’re going to build shelters for women, and they’ll be taken care of, and be taught to support themselves with different ways and means, so they can live a life without the abuser, and support themselves without having to depend on someone who’s beating you up every night.

Reeva would have loved to do that. And I will do it for her.

10 Nov, 2014

Can’t be released early due to prostheses

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Pistorius reportedly can’t be considered eligible for the early release program from the Kgosi Mampuru II prison as the electronic tagging devices can’t be used with his prostheses. A prisoner with a prosthetic leg can leave the leg somewhere and move around undetected.

27 Oct, 2014

Prosecution to appeal

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Spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority:

We are appealing it, both conviction and sentence.

The spokesman says prosecutors will file papers in court, and more details about their appeal arguments will be available at that time.

26 Oct, 2014

$1.6 million legal fees

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Pistorius’s legal bills are reported to total 17 million South African rand, or about $1.6 million. A source says around $915,000 is still owing, raising questions over who will defend him if the prosecution appeals. Pistorius is said to have sold his $450,000 house to pay the costs. His legal team, which included two senior barristers and three additional lawyers attending the court, is rumored to have cost as much as $8,700 a day, and hired experts to help defend the case including an American forensic animation company called The Evidence Room.

Family visits jail

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oscar-pistorius-carlHenke Pistorius is the first family member to visit Oscar in the prison wing of Kgosi Mpuru II prison. Oscar’s sister, Aimee, his uncle, Arnold, and brother, Carl, arrive later to visit. Carl is accompanied by a female relative who isn’t identified. Henke and Aimee carry grocery bags and a black shoulder bag to the visit, which takes place behind a thick glass partition.

Mother: Steenkamp was going to leave

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June Steenkamp says she believes that Reeva was planning to leave Pistorius the night she was shot. She says Reeva had confided that she had not had sex with Pistorius:

She wouldn’t want to sleep with Oscar if she wasn’t sure. I believe their relationship was coming to an end. In her heart of hearts, she didn’t think it was making either of them happy…Her clothes were packed. There is no doubt in our minds: she had decided to leave Oscar that night.

She says a fight may have occurred:

There is no doubt in our minds that something went horribly wrong, something upset her so terribly that she hid behind a locked door with two mobile phones.

23 Oct, 2014

In shock on first night in jail

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Pistorius is reportedly in shock and cried himself to sleep on his first night in the jail. He has been under strict supervision since arriving (Oct. 21) in case of an emergency. He was briefly introduced to the other nine inmates on the hospital wing. His routine involves a wakeup call at 5:30am, breakfast at 7 a.m., lunch at noon and dinner at 4 p.m. President of the South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights, Golden Miles Bhudu:

It’s no picnic. Once the doors shut that’s it. Other than a little grill bar window next to the cell door, through which to talk, there’s no other way of communicating at night. When you talk from your cell you have to scream. For people to have heard him crying, it would have been very loud.

22 Oct, 2014

Spends first night in prison medical wing

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Pistorius spends his first night in prison in a single cell in the medical wing of the Kgosi Mampuru facility. Pistorius is housed in a wing of the prison along with eight other inmates with disabilities. Correctional services spokesman Manelisi Wolela:

Now the hospital section of the center accommodates two offenders with prosthetic legs, two blind offenders and five offenders on wheelchairs: Nine in total.

21 Oct, 2014

Concurrent sentence

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Pistorius is given a three-year sentence suspended for five years for discharging a firearm in a restaurant in Johannesburg. The sentences will run concurrently.

Organization to appeal

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The ANC Womens League says it plans to appeal the verdict:

ANCWL has consistently campaigned for harsh sentences in all cases of violence against women and children. As an organisation we are highly concerned with the high level of femicide in our country. Statistics indicate that a woman is killed in every eight hours in South Africa.

This situation is abnormal and should be unacceptable to every citizen. We would want to see this verdict being expunged as a precedent setting case in our statutes.

Health assessment

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Pistorius will undergo a health assessment within six hours of arriving at the prison, to determine whether he needs to be housed in the hospital wing. He is not expected to be housed in the general population.

Steenkamp family statement

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Reeva’s mother, June, says the verdict brings closure, however she says it:

Would not magic Reeva back

Her father, Barry:

I’m pleased that it’s over.

He says also that he is ‘very satisfied’ with the verdict.

Banned from competing until 2019

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The International Paralympic Committee confirms that Pistorius will be banned from competing for the full five years, even if he is released to house arrest. He won’t be able to run at the Rio Olympics.

The rules state that if someone is given a five-year sentence by a court, they must serve that sentence before returning to competition

He will be 33 by the time of the Tokyo Games and it is unclear if he will be in competitive shape. He also may not be allowed to travel freely to other countries.