'We don't believe his story': Oscar Pistorius denied parole a decade after Reeva Steenkamp's murder
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA: Paralympic gold medalist Oscar Pistorius's parole application was again rejected by the South African court on Friday, March 31. The board issued the ruling which means the convicted killer will continue to remain in jail even after being behind the bars for 10 years. Pistorius murdered his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013, shooting her multiple times through a bathroom door in the middle of the night.
The ‘blade runner’ continues to claim that he killed her thinking there was a dangerous intruder. The parole board did consider his conduct and disciplinary record in prison, his participation in educational or other training courses over his decade-long incarceration and also the convict's mental and physical state, before making the decision. Pistorius will be eligible to apply for parole in another year. The victim’s mother June Steenkamp was present at the parole hearing and was asked whether Pistorius was remorseful according to her. She replied, "No. Never. It's very hard to be in the same room as him." June was there as a representative to address the parole board and express their opposition to Pistorius's early release behind closed doors. "We don't believe his story," said June Steenkamp when her car arrived at the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in Pretoria, as per CBS News report.
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'He had shot my daughter deliberately and he denied it'
Pistorius was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison in the 2017 judgment. The court records show that social workers visited his uncle Arno Pistorius’ property in Pretoria where he would have served out the remainder of his sentence if parole had been granted by the court on Friday. Barry Steenkamp, Reeva’s father had met Pistorius in jail earlier as per the South African government’s program called victim-offender dialogue.
'He did it in anger'
He said in an interview after the meeting, “I told Oscar directly that he had shot my daughter deliberately and he denied it. He stuck to his story that he thought it was an intruder. After all these years we are still waiting for him to admit he did it in anger. That is all we wanted. If he told me the truth, he would have been a free man by now and I would have let the law take its course over his parole." The emotional Barry further said, The heartbroken father also added, “But I was wasting my time. He is a murderer. He should remain in jail."
