South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is freed on parole after serving 9 years in girlfriend’s death

PRETORIA, South Africa — South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has been released from prison on parole after serving nearly nine years in prison for killing his girlfriend and is now at home, South Africa’s Department of Corrections said Friday.

The department gave no more details of Pistorius’ release. The announcement came at around 8:30 a.m., indicating corrections officials had released the world-famous double-amputee Olympic runner from the Atteridgeville Correctional Center in the South African capital, Pretoria, in the early hours.

Pistorius has served nearly nine years of his 13 years and five months murder sentence for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013. He was approved for parole in November.

Serious offenders in South Africa are eligible for parole after serving at least half their sentence.

The Department of Corrections said in a two-sentence statement announcing Pistorius’ release that it was “able to confirm that Oscar Pistorius is a parolee, effectively from 5 January 2024. He was admitted into the system of Community Corrections and is now at home.”

Pistorius was expected to initially live at his uncle’s mansion in the upscale Waterkloof suburb of Pretoria, and a police van was seen parked outside of that house.

Department of Corrections officials had said Pistorius’ release time would not be announced in advance and he would not be “paraded” because they hoped to keep him away from the media glare that has trailed him since he shot Steenkamp multiple times through a toilet door at his home in the predawn hours of Feb. 14, 2013.