I do not believe Oscar’s version that he thought the person in the toilet was a burglar,” she wrote in a victim impact statement. “I do not know anybody who does. My dearest child screamed for her life, loud enough for the neighbours to hear her. He will not be able to leave Pretoria and will have to inform authorities of any major events in his life, including if he wants to move home or get a job, a corrections department spokesperson said.

In the initial 2014 trial, the judge found Pistorius guilty of the lesser crime of culpable homicide – comparable to manslaughter – ruling that there was no evidence he had wanted to kill Steenkamp. Her statement was read to reporters, outside the prison where the parole hearing was held, by Rob Matthews, whose 21-year-old daughter was murdered in 2004 and who became a friend of the Steenkamp family. Steenkamp’s mother June had urged the parole board to “treat the safety of women as the most important consideration” in its deliberations, underlining that Pistorius has never accepted that he targeted Steenkamp.That decision caused an outcry, with women’s rights groups warning it sent a dangerous message about the value of women’s lives. He will be released on 5 January after a parole board deemed him fit for social reintegration, South Africa’s correctional services department said on Friday. He has served eight and a half years in prison, plus a further eight months under house arrest. The killing made him infamous, and a long series of trials and appeals spurred international debate about gender-based violence and justice.

She said she was not convinced Pistorius had been rehabilitated but that she would not oppose his release if officials decided otherwise. A terrible decision,” said criminal behavioural analyst Laura Richards in a post on X. She described a requirement that Pistorius attend anger management classes as “a joke. They have zero understanding of coercive control.”Before Steenkamp’s murder, Pistorius was a national star feted for winning Paralympic medals and going on to become the first double amputee to race in the Olympics. Campaigner David Challen described it as “shameful”, also on X. “This is the value justice systems throughout the world put on the lives of women murdered by men.” Steenkamp’s father, Barry, died in September, and June did not attend Friday’s parole hearing, saying that after her husband’s death “I simply cannot muster the energy to face [Pistorius] again”. I do not know what gave rise to his choice to shoot through a closed door four times with hollow-point ammunition when, I believe, he knew it was Reeva.” The parole will come with conditions over the five years until his sentence expires on 5 December 2029. These will include attending programmes on anger issues and violence against women, and completing community service.

He is expected to live at his uncle’s home in a wealthy Pretoria suburb where he stayed during his murder trial.

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