Pistorius meets parents of girlfriend he shot dead
OSCAR Pistorius has been driven 750 miles to meet the parents of Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend he killed, as he fights to be freed.
The double amputee ex-sprinter was transferred from “comfy” Atteridgeville Correctional Centre, Pretoria to tough St Albans Correctional jail, 15 minutes from their Port Elizabeth home in South Africa. Pistorius, 35, was given 13 years and five months in jail for murder after he shot Reeva, 29, as she cowered in their bathroom.
The country’s Supreme Court has ruled the ex-Paralympian gold medallist has served more than half his time and can ask for parole.
In that process, Pistorius will meet Reeva’s elderly parents Barry and June so they can ask him why he killed their model daughter in 2013.
Jail staff switched the venue to ease stress on Blackburnborn June, 74, and ex-trainer Barry, 78, who has a heart condition.
The devout Christians did not have to agree to see Pistorius but decided they wanted to ask for the truth.
He was put in a prison van with a police escort for the 13-hour trip to riot-hit Atteridgeville, where he was given his own single cell for safety ahead of this week’s encounter.
Pistorius had written out of the blue to the Steenkamps who have said previously they have forgiven him but do not believe his claim that he thought he had heard an intruder break in. If they accept he is remorseful it may influence the parole board’s decision whether to free him. Their lawyer Tania Koen said his letter was like “ripping a Band Aid” off a wound as the pair had not expected any contact. But they decided it would be the only chance to get the truth. Pistorius was known as Blade Runner after his prosthetics in his athletics career. He became the first double amputee to run in a full Olympic Games.
A prison source said: “The only hurdle in his way of receiving parole at the earliest date depends on his victim’s family. “They are entitled to make submissions into whether he should be released...and they can carry a lot of weight with the parole board.”