Oscar Pistorius Will Stay in Prison

Six-time Paralympic gold medalist Oscar Pistorius will remain in prison after a parole board in South Africa decided to deny him parole on Friday morning.

Pistorius has served half of his 13-year sentence for murdering his girlfriend a decade ago and was up for parole with the prospect of being released from prison within days. He will now remain behind bars but will be able to apply for parole again in a year's time.

Pistorius, 36, who was known as the "Blade Runner" during his career for the innovative prosthetic legs he used to sprint with, has reportedly expressed remorse for shooting Reeva Steenkamp, 29, on Valentine's Day in 2013 but still maintains that he pulled the trigger believing a burglar was in his bathroom.

He was initially found guilty of culpable homicide but on appeal was convicted of murder. Pistorius would have been released if his parole had been upheld by a three-person panel.

Steenkamp family lawyer Tania Koen had hit out at the prospect saying that Reeva's parents are not convinced that the former athlete is "remorseful and rehabilitated."

Speaking to Sky News, Koen said: "They want him to serve his sentence. What has been done to them is a life sentence. They have lost their daughter. Their daughter is never coming back so they have always said that the law must take its course.

"The law said 15 years because there were no compelling and substantial reason to deviate from that sentence, so they feel unless Oscar is remorseful and rehabilitated and told them what happened that night, he should not be placed out on parole."

With the prospect of coming face-to-face with their daughter's killer on Friday morning, Reeva's mother, June Steenkamp, said: "[It'll be] very hard to be in the same room as him. I don't believe his story. I don't believe Oscar is remorseful… or rehabilitated."

Barry Steenkamp, Reeva's father, met the former sprinter as part of "victim-offender dialogue," a mandatory process in June 2022.

Koen added ahead of the hearing: "For them, it's ten missed birthdays, it's ten Mother's Days, Father's Days, Christmases—so time hasn't healed for them," she told reporters at the prison. "They don't feel that he should be released."

Oscar Pistorius timeline—how events unfolded

14 February 2013: Pistorius is arrested at his home in Pretoria on suspicion of murdering Reeva Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model.

It was claimed that Pistorius fired four shots through his closed bathroom door, killing Steenkamp, who was inside.

Pistorius still maintains that he thought an intruder, and not his girlfriend of three months, was on the other side of the door.

15 February 2013: Pistorius appears at Pretoria Magistrate's Court to hear charges of premeditated murder read out against him, leaving him in tears in the dock.

19 February 2013: Steenkamp's funeral in Port Elizabeth sees friends and family gather, with her brother Adam telling the congregation: "There's a space missing inside all of the people that she knew that can't be filled again."

22 February 2013: Pistorius is granted bail of one million rand ($56,243) under the condition that he surrender his passport and any weapons.

3 March 2014: Judge Thokozile Masipa starts the trial and witnesses, including neighbors, describe hearing gunshots.

During his testimony, Pistorius cries and retches into a bucket as he recalls the events of that fateful night of February 14, 2013.

Steenkamp's father tells the court that he has forgiven the killer of his daughter but still wants him to "pay" for his actions, in emotional testimony.

12 September 2014: Judge Masipa finds Pistorius not guilty of murder, but convicts him of the lesser charge of culpable homicide.

The judge said Pistorius acted "negligently" in firing the shots but believed he thought "there was an intruder".

21 October 2014: Pistorius is sentenced to five years in prison, as well as a three-year suspended sentence for a separate firearms charge.

He is taken to Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria to serve his time, with prosecutors vowing they would appeal the verdict.

19 October 2015: Just 12 months after being convicted, and less than a fifth of the way into his sentence, Pistorius is released on parole.

He is placed under house arrest at his uncle's home in Pretoria.

3 November 2015: The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) hears from prosecutors that Pistorius should be charged with murder.

This carries a minimum prison sentence of 15 years.

3 December 2015: Pistorius is found guilty of murder, overturning his original conviction.

Judge Masipa made "fundamental errors" in her application of the law, according to the five-judge panel who said the athlete "must have foreseen the potentially fatal consequences of his actions."

6 July 2016: Masipa sentences Pistorius to six years imprisonment, saying there were "substantial and compelling circumstances" to reduce the usual 15-year minimum term for murder.

24 November 2017: The SCA increases Pistorius's sentence from six years to 13 years and five months in prison.

22 June 2022: Pistorius meets Steenkamp's father as part of a victim-offender dialogue—an integral part of South Africa's restorative justice program that brings parties affected by a crime together in a bid to achieve closure.

31 March 2023: After serving half of his 13-year sentence, parole board deny Pistorius parole.

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