Oscar Pistorius, a former Paralympics star and convicted murderer, has lost his parole hearing to be released from prison early after killing his girlfriend and will remain locked up.
He has so far served half of his 13-year sentence for murdering his then-girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines Day in 2013 and was hoping to be freed from prison today.
However Pistorius, now aged 36, lost his appeal and correctional services confirmed his parole has been denied.
It said the inmate did not complete the minimum Detention Period as ruled by the Supreme Court of Appeal and he will be able to reapply for parole in another year.
Prison spokesman Singabakoho Nxumalo said: "In simple English, half the sentence is left to be served."
Before the hearing, Reeva's mother June said Pistorius was "not remorseful or rehabilitated." They believe he is lying about their daughter’s killing and opposed the former Olympic runner’s application for parole.
Pistorius shot Reeva, his girlfriend of two months, four times, through a locked bathroom door with the 9mm pistol he kept under his bed.
The prosecution said she had gone there to escape him following the argument while Pistorius insisted he didn't hear her get out of bed and mistook her for a burglar.
It was later revealed that the once well-loved olympic star had been a gun fanatic who once fired a gun in a restaurant and had 10 weapons, including an AK-47.
The board considered his conduct and disciplinary record in prison, his participation in educational or other training courses during the last decade of incarceration, and his mental and physical state to assess whether Pistorius, now 36, would still pose a threat to public safety.
Steenkamp's mother read a statement at the parole board, in a room separate from the killer, to voice her and her husbands opposition to Pistorius being granted early parole.
“Unless he comes clean, they don’t feel that he is rehabilitated,” Reeva's lawyer Tania Koen told reporters outside the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre prison in Pretoria, ahead of the hearing, where Pistorius has been incarcerated since 2016.
She continued: “He’s the killer of their daughter. For them, it’s a life sentence."
Pistorius was last up for parole in 2021, but that request was denied on technical grounds as he had not met with Steenkamp's family as required under South Africa's parole rules.
Barry Steenkamp then met face-to-face with Pistorius last year in what’s known in South Africa as a victim-offender dialogue.
That meeting was “traumatic”, Koen said.
His six-month televised trial in 2014, less than two years after he made history at the London 2012 Olympic Games, caught the attention of viewers all over the world.
Sky News obtained a video of Pistorius at a shooting range which was shown to the jury.
In it he looks at a watermelon he uses as a target and says: "It's not as soft as brains but f*** it is a zombie stopper."
The chief prosecutor forced the athlete to look at the pictures of Ms Steenkamp's injuries, saying: "You saw how the bullet made the watermelon explode. You know the same thing happened to Reeva's head."
