JUNE 9 (Reuters) – People in Johannesburg react to reports from a family member that Oscar Pistorius is to be released on parole in August. The authorities later confirm that the athlete will be released on parole on August 21.
SHOWS: SOUTH AFRICA, JOHANNESBURG, (JUNE 8, 2015) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL)
1. WIDE OF TRAFFIC SCENE (MUTE)
2. PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET
3. MORE OF PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET (MUTE)
4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISAAC PLAATJIES SAYING;
“In my view, he never served a proper sentence for what he did and I’m really against that, that he has to be released at this stage. I think his matter must be reviewed and he must still go back to court and I encourage the NPA to take this matter on review.”
5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MADELINE SCHEEPERS SAYING;
“How do I feel about Oscar getting out? I think it’s okay. I think it was a terrible mistake and I think personally, he must be paying a very heavy price for it, and a jail sentence will not necessarily fix that for him.”
6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) KHAYA MAKHAYE SAYING;
“Definitely, he didn’t get enough time, not even two full years for murder, that’s something we should be embarrassed about as a society and this is just another case of money, you know, being able to buy out any situation.”
7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CURLEN RUITERS SAYING;
“I don’t know, let’s see how it goes, but maybe justice will serve its course – but once again, money talks.”
8. PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET
STORY: South African athlete Oscar Pistorius will be released on parole on August 21 after serving 10 months of a five-year sentence for culpable homicide of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, authorities said on Monday (June 8).
The Olympic and Paralympic track star is behind bars in the capital, Pretoria, after being convicted in October after a seven-month trial.
Earlier, a family member had said that the athlete would be released in August and Reuters spoke to people in Johannesburg about the report.
“In my view he never served a proper sentence for what he did and I’m really against that, that he have to be released at this stage, I think his matter must be reviewed and he must still go back to court and I encourage the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa] to take this matter on review,” said Isaac Plaatjies.
Madeline Scheepers said: “How do I feel about Oscar getting out? I think it’s okay. I think it was a terrible mistake and I think personally, he must be paying a very heavy price for it, and a jail sentence will not necessarily fix that for him.”
“Definitely, he didn’t get enough time, not even two full years for murder, that’s something we should be embarrassed about as a society and this is just another case of money, you know, being able to buy out any situation,” was the view of Khaya Makhaye.
“I don’t know, let’s see how it goes, but maybe justice will serve its course – but once again, money talks,” Curlen Ruiters said.
Officials at South Africa’s department of correctional services were not immediately available to comment.
The release of Pistorius, whose lower legs were amputated when he was a baby, was largely expected because he was sentenced under South African law to serve a short period of time in jail, or just one-sixth of the sentence.
Pistorius is being held in South Africa’s capital at the Pretoria Central Prison, once the execution site for opponents of South Africa’s racist, white-minority government.
V Steenkamp, a 29-year-old law graduate and model, died almost instantly on Valentine’s Day in 2013 when Pistorius shot her through a locked toilet door at his luxury Pretoria home.
Prosecutors had pushed for a murder conviction, but the athlete maintained he fired in the mistaken belief an intruder was hiding behind the door, a defence that struck home in a country with one of the world’s highest rates of violent crimes.
The prosecutors won their bid to appeal the culpable homicide conviction and will seek a murder conviction when their case is heard in November.
The decision could leave Pistorius open to a prison sentence of at least 15 years if he is convicted of murder.