Oscar Pistorius denied parole

Oscar Pistorius is to remain behind bars after a failed parole bid on Friday.

“Yes, parole has been denied. But we need to go. We need to tell Barry before he hears it on the news,” were the tearful cries of lawyer Tania Koen who on Friday represented the Steenkamp couple at Pistorius's parole application.

June Steenkamp, mother of murdered model Reeva Steenkamp, had travelled from Gqeberha to Pretoria for the hearing at the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre, but Barry was too frail to attend.

Pistorius and Steenkamp had the opportunity to face the parole board at a closed hearing at the low security facility. After having served more than half his sentence, Pistorius had qualified to apply for parole and explain to the board why he felt he had been successfully rehabilitated and should be granted his freedom.

While the parties generally appear together, according to Koen, the format was different on Friday when the case management committee handed in its report, and then it was the turn of Steenkamp's family to make their feelings known.

June, accompanied by Koen, told the board that she has suffered the loss of her daughter for more than 10 years, and was unable to heal. She felt robbed of the truth and believed Pistorius was not genuinely sorry.

She said she did not believe Pistorius had told the truth — as was the most recent finding of the Supreme Court of Appeal, which found that Pistorius had purposefully shot Steenkamp during a middle-of-the-night fight as she cowered behind the locked toilet door. His manslaughter conviction was raised to murder, and his sentence was doubled to 13 years and five months.

Koen's junior, Carmen Dodd, then read out a letter to the board written by Reeva's dad, Barry Steenkamp, who is ill and walks with difficulty.

“Carmen conveyed Barry's one big request, which was for Oscar to please tell the truth and let them know what happened,” Koen told TimesLIVE.

The department of correctional services issued a short statement, explaining why he was denied parole. 

“The department of correctional services has received the decision of the correctional supervision and parole board (CSPB) on the parole consideration for inmate Oscar Leonard Pistorius. The CSPB granted inmate Pistorius a further profile for August 2024. The reason provided is that the inmate did not complete the minimum detention period as ruled by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) (as per the clarification provided on 28 March 2023),” said the DCS.

Parole expert Lukas Muntingh of the Dullah Omar Institute said a parole denial did not mean that Pistorius would have to serve out his whole sentence, but that he would have to act on recommendations from the board before applying again sometime in the future.

June Steenkamp was extremely relieved that the ordeal of the hearing was over on Friday afternoon and was planning to return to her Eastern Cape home to be with Barry on Saturday.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.