|
 The disgraced Paralympic gold medalist must serve the rest of his
sentence under house arrest but still faces an appeal on Nov. 3 by
prosecutors who argue that he should have been convicted of murder,
not culpable homicide.
Pistorius, 28, who was found guilty of the lesser charge when he
fired four shots through a locked bathroom door and hit Steenkamp,
will be confined to his uncle Arnold's home in a wealthy suburb of
the capital, Pretoria.
Pistorius had been expected to leave prison on Tuesday, and his
early release took media by surprise.
Family spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess said on Tuesday that they were
glad to have Pistorius home and that the athlete would observe his
parole conditions closely.
"The family is happy that Oscar is home, but they want to make the
point that his sentence continues," Burgess said outside the house.
The Department of Correctional Services said officials at the
capital's Kgosi Mampuru II prison, formerly known as Pretoria
Central, had acted to avoid a media scrum at its gates.
"The handling of the actual placement is an operational matter of
the local management, and how they handle it is their prerogative,"
department spokesman Manelisi Wolela said in a text message. "They
carry it out in the best interest of all parties concerned."
A lawyer for Steenkamp's family, who publicly questioned the verdict
in August, said they were indifferent to his release in view of
their loss.
"To them it doesn't matter whether he was released yesterday a few
hours earlier or a few hours later," lawyer Tania Koen said on Talk
Radio 702.
"Whether he remains incarcerated or not, it makes no difference to
them now because Reeva is still not coming back."
A neighbor who declined to be named told Reuters it was sad
Pistorius was freed having served less than a year in prison.
"This is hardly a prison," she said of the leafy suburb of
Waterkloof, where Pretorius is under house arrest.
But Dewald Reynders, a former athlete who said he trained with
Pistorius in the past, welcomed the news.
Reynders said he'd known Pistorius since 2004 and had seen what
effect the media scrutiny had on the then teenage boy.
"I'm glad he was released quietly last night. He shouldn't have to
go through all of it over and over again."
A bouquet of flowers was delivered to the house although it was
unclear who had sent it.
The athlete, whose lower legs were amputated when he was a baby, was
freed in line with South African sentencing guidelines that say
non-dangerous prisoners should spend only one-sixth of a custodial
sentence behind bars.
[to top of second column] |
Pistorius will be allowed to leave the house on occasion.
"The conditions are strict and he will be able to leave the house to
go to work, go to church or to buy groceries," said Karen van Eck,
an attorney with Clarke and Van Eck Attorneys.
But as his job is competitive athletics this could prove challenging
for him, as events far from the house will likely be off limits,
said Van Eck.
APPEAL LOOMS
Prosecutors argue that the verdict should be one of murder because
Pistorius must have known that the person behind the door could be
killed. Their appeal is due to be heard on Nov. 3.
The state will argue that the trial judge misinterpreted parts of
the law. A murder conviction would result in a minimum sentence of
15 years in prison.
A panel of five judges will hear the appeal, which Pistorius is not
obliged to attend. They could either reject the prosecution's
appeal, order a retrial or convict Pistorius of murder themselves,
legal experts say.
Parole conditions already announced include that Pistorius, a gun
enthusiast, must undergo psychotherapy and is not allowed to possess
a firearm.
South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of violent crime.
Louise Ferreira, a feminist activist and writer, was critical of how
short a time he had spent behind bars in view of his crime.
"He might not have been found guilty of murder, but it was yet
another instance of a South African woman killed by an intimate
partner, and I don't believe the time he spent in prison reflects
the severity either of his crime or the epidemic of violence against
women," she said.
(Additional reporting by Siyabonga Sishi in Pretoria and Stella
Mapenzauswa in Johannesburg; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by
Hugh Lawson)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
