Former South African Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius has been released on parole, prison authorities said, nearly nine years after he killed his girlfriend in a crime that shocked the country.
“Pistorius was released on parole today. He was accepted into the community corrections system and is now at home,” the statement said.
Pistorius, now 37, spent about eight and a half years in prison, as well as seven months under house arrest, before being convicted of murder. The parole board decided in November that he could be released after serving more than half of his sentence.
Pistorius, nicknamed “Blade Runner” because of his carbon fiber leg braces, killed model Riva Stinkamp by shooting through a locked bathroom door on Valentine’s Day 2013.
He has repeatedly said he thought Steenkamp was a burglar when he fired four shots at his Pretoria home. He filed several appeals against the verdict that he was guilty of murder.
Photo ©️ WALDO SWIEGERS/AFP via Getty Images