"A total disregard for the rights of the victim”: Steenkamp family blindsided that Oscar Pistorius is now eligible for parole
The former Paralympian could be paroled more than a year earlier than expected.
Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympian and subject of our podcast series False Idol, is in the news again. In a decision that came as a shock to Reeva Steenkamp's family, Pistorius could soon be released on parole, more than a year earlier than expected. Last week, ROS senior writer Tim Rohan spoke with the lawyers representing both Pistorius and the Steenkamp family to discuss the case. We hope you enjoy this special report from Rohan.
For some time now, Oscar Pistorius, the former Paralympian who murdered his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013, has been serving his prison sentence at Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in South Africa. He is said to spend his time gardening and leading a bible study group, and he had been expected to remain in prison at least until he became eligible for parole, reportedly in March 2023.
Then around mid-October of this year, June and Barry Steenkamp, Reeva’s parents, received some startling news, when Pistorius’ attorney reached out to their lawyer, Tania Koen. Pistorius was apparently eligible for parole right now, he had been since July 2021, and the parole board was in the process of scheduling Pistorius’ hearing for Oct. 27 or Oct. 29, less than two weeks away. Theoretically, at that hearing, he could be granted his release.
“[The Steenkamps] were very shocked,” Koen told Religion of Sports. “They were not emotionally prepared for the news.”
The Steenkamps had no idea, but Pistorius’ parole eligibility had been quietly moved up, and now it appeared the parole board was hastily arranging a hearing. At the time, there was still much to do. Not all of the expert reports evaluating Pistorius had been finished, and the Steenkamps had not been given an opportunity to meet with Pistorius face-to-face before the hearing, as is their right as part of the process.
Both Koen and Julian Knight, Pistorius’ lawyer, agreed that the hearing could not take place. Knight called the timing of the hearing, “premature,” and Koen said, “proper procedure had not been followed.”
“Clearly, the Department of Correctional Services did not apply their mind,” Koen added. “And because they didn’t apply their mind, they commenced with the process with a total disregard for the rights of the victim or the victim’s family, in this instance.”
The hearing has now been cancelled, postponed to a later date, until after the Steenkamps and Pistorius have a chance to meet. Knight predicted the hearing could take place “sometime probably in the first quarter of next year.”
But the news — that Pistorius is currently eligible for parole and could possibly be paroled sometime soon — came as a surprise to many, including the Steenkamps.
Pistorius initially rose to fame as an athlete, a bilateral amputee sprinter who ran on carbon-fiber legs, and was known around the world as The Blade Runner. He won six gold medals at the Paralympics and made history in 2012, becoming the first amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympic Games.
Six months later, he shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp in his home, firing four shots through a locked bathroom door. They’d only been seeing each other for about three months when he killed her. Pistorius claimed that he’d mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder. He was initially convicted of culpable homicide, a charge similar to manslaughter, and sentenced to five years in prison. But after a lengthy appeal process, he was eventually charged with murder and sentenced to 15 years, minus time served. (Religion of Sports re-examined Pistorius’ rise and fall, and highlighted Reeva Steenkamp’s life, in the podcast series False Idol.)
But then at one point last year, Knight, Pistorius’ attorney, reached out to the South Africa Supreme Court of Appeal “to inquire as to the calculation of sentence and how it was arrived at,” he said. That inquiry led to an announcement earlier this year: the court said it’d made an error and had not credited Pistorius for all of his time served. At that time, it was reported and widely believed that Pistorius would be eligible for parole in early 2023. “There was not a single person that thought otherwise, as far as I’m aware,” Koen said. “Everybody thought, March 2023.”
Just months later, though, Knight quietly reached out to the court again, asking it to re-check Pistorius’ sentence. Knight suspected the court might not have credited Pistorius for time served while in prison for culpable homicide. The court agreed, Knight said, and backdated Pistorius’ sentence again, back to when he was first imprisoned in 2014.
Now, Knight said Pistorius was eligible for parole as of July 2021, after he’d served half his sentence. But this time, there was no announcement. “You must remember,” Knight said, “in any criminal matter, courts don’t have to — there’s no duty on them to make a public announcement or make a press release.”
But that meant, June and Barry Steenkamp were also left in the dark.
The Steenkamps received a letter from Pistorius in August, out of the blue. But it apparently made no mention of his case’s recent developments. Koen declined to discuss the contents of the letter, but she said, “receiving the letter was traumatic for [the Steenkamps]. And reading the contents was also distressing.”
Then the Department of Correctional Services reached out to the Steenkamps in October, asking to set up a meeting. But the department never relayed what it wanted to discuss with the Steenkamps, and later cancelled the meeting due to travel costs.
Through the entire process, Koen said, the Steenkamps were not told about Pistorius’ new parole eligibility, nor were they properly notified about the potential parole hearing. They only learned the news when Knight, Pistorius’ lawyer, reached out to Koen on Oct. 18. At that stage, the parole board was discussing possibly holding a hearing on Pistorius by the end of the month.
“It’s supposed to be a victim-centric approach,” Koen said, “and it definitely doesn’t sound like a victim-centric approach for it to be handled in this manner.”
The Steenkamps were essentially blindsided by the news. “They took it really badly,” Koen said. She described it as “basically ripping off a wound that hasn’t healed.”
Reeva had been Barry and June’s only child together. She was a successful model in South Africa, and had started using her platform to speak out about issues like gender-based violence. She’d also studied law, and had plans to return to law at some point in the future.
“These parents, they expected their daughter’s killer to be eligible for parole in March 2023,” Koen said. Now, “they must face something that they were not prepared for at all.”
Koen plans to make inquiries to find out how the court arrived at this latest amendment of Pistorius’ status. “It seems that there’s been a calculation error,” she said. “I’m not sure how the error came about. We have all been stumped by the news.”
As part of Pistorius’ parole process, the Steenkamps do have the right to meet with him, if they so choose, in what Koen described as “victim-offender dialogue.” It’s part of South Africa’s restorative justice process. Koen indicated that the Steenkamps did in fact want to meet with Pistorius. Barry Steenkamp, in particular, has questions for him.
Knight indicated Pistorius wanted to meet the Steenkamps too. “He’s wanted to meet with them since he went into prison,” Knight said. “Obviously he deeply regrets the harm that he’s caused, and obviously he wants to apologize.”
Scheduling the meeting, though, will pose some logistical challenges. Pistorius is being held in Pretoria, the Steenkamps live in the city of Gqeberha (formerly known as Port Elizabeth), and Koen pointed out that Barry Steenkamp does not travel well, due to his health.
When Pistorius’ parole hearing is finally scheduled, the Steenkamps will also have an opportunity to make a statement to the parole board, either in person or in writing. It will be their chance to say whether they support or oppose Pistorius being paroled, and it will play a factor in the board’s decision.
At this time, are the Steenkamps leaning one way or another? “Before the parole board can convene, they will participate in the victim-offender dialogue,” Koen said. “So I think it would be premature to speculate on that. I mean, they are two very kind and loving human beings. … They are compassionate people. Who knows what might happen once they’ve met face-to-face with Oscar Pistorius and participate in the victim-offender dialogue. I can’t predict that.”
Once that meeting takes place, the parole hearing will be scheduled. If Pistorius is released, Knight said, he would serve out his sentence from home, with the parole board placing him on strict conditions, only allowing him to leave for work or for church, for example. But over time, toward the end of the sentence, Knight said, the restrictions could be eased.