Background and career
Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius ( pist-OR-ee-əs, Afrikaans: [pəˈstuəriœs]; born 22 November 1986) is a South African double amputee, former professional sprinter, and convicted murderer. On 14 February 2013, Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, a paralegal and model, in his Pretoria home. He claimed he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder hiding in the bathroom. He was arrested and charged with murder. At his trial the following year, Pistorius was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of culpable homicide. He received a five-year prison sentence for culpable homicide and a concurrent three-year suspended sentence for a separate reckless endangerment conviction both in October 2014. Pistorius was temporarily released on house arrest in October 2015 while the case was presented on appeal to a panel at the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa, which overturned the culpable homicide verdict and convicted him of murder. In July 2016, Judge Thokozile Masipa extended Pistorius's sentence to six years. On appeal by the state for a longer prison sentence, the Supreme Court of Appeal increased the prison term to a total of 15 years less time served. Pistorius was released on parole on 5 January 2024 after serving a total of 8.5 years in prison, in addition to seven months' house arrest. Before his conviction, Pistorius was the 10th athlete to compete at both the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games. Pistorius ran in both nondisabled sprint events and in sprint events for below-knee amputees. Both of his legs were amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old as a result of a birth defect; he was born missing the outsides of both feet and both fibulas. Pistorius's athletic career ended after his murder conviction. After becoming a Paralympic champion, Pistorius attempted to enter nondisabled international competitions, over persistent objections by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and arguments that his artificial limbs gave an unfair advantage. Pistorius prevailed in this legal dispute. At the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, Pistorius was the first amputee to win a nondisabled world track medal. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Pistorius was the first double-leg amputee participant.
Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius was born to Henke and Sheila Pistorius on 22 November 1986 in Sandton, Johannesburg, in what was then Transvaal Province (now Gauteng Province) of South Africa. He grew up in a Christian home and has an elder brother and a younger sister. Pistorius credits his mother, who died at the age of 43 when Pistorius was 15 years old, as a major influence in his life. Pistorius is from an Afrikaner family with partial Italian ancestry from his maternal great-grandfather, who was an Italian emigrant to Kenya. Afrikaans is his mother tongue and he is also fluent in English. Pistorius was born with fibular hemimelia (congenital absence of the fibula) in both legs. When he was 11 months old, both of his legs were amputated halfway between his knees and ankles. He attended Constantia Kloof Primary School and Pretoria Boys High School, where he played rugby union in the school's third XV team. He played water polo and tennis at provincial level between the ages of 11 and 13. In addition, Pistorius took part in club Olympic wrestling, and trained at Jannie Brooks's garage gym in Pretoria. Brooks remarked that it took six months before he noticed that Pistorius "had no legs" but nonetheless was able to do many exercises, including "boxing, skipping, and doing press-ups". After a serious rugby knee injury in June 2003, Pistorius was introduced to running in January 2004 while undergoing rehabilitation at the University of Pretoria's High Performance Centre with coach Ampie Louw, and "never looked back". His first racing blades were fitted by South African prosthetist Francois van der Watt. Because he was unable to find suitable running blades in Pretoria, Van der Watt ordered the pair to be made by a local engineer. However, as these quickly broke, Van der Watt referred Pistorius to the American prosthetist and Paralympic sprinter Brian Frasure to be fitted for blades by Icelandic company Össur. Pistorius began studying for a bachelor of commerce (B.Com.) in business management with sports science at the University of Pretoria in 2006. In a June 2008 interview for his University's website, he joked: "I won't graduate soon. With all the training I have had to cut down on my subjects. Hopefully I'll finish by the time I'm 30!" Asked by a journalist for his "sporting motto", he said, "You're not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have."
In the early morning of Thursday, 14 February 2013, Pistorius shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp at his home in Pretoria. Pistorius admitted that he shot Steenkamp four times, causing her death, but claimed he mistook her for a possible intruder. His murder trial began on 3 March 2014 in the Pretoria High Court. On 20 May, the trial proceedings were adjourned until 30 June to enable Pistorius to undergo psychiatric evaluation to establish whether he could be held criminally responsible for shooting Steenkamp. Judge Thokozile Masipa agreed to a request for the evaluation by prosecutor Gerrie Nel after forensic psychiatrist Merryll Vorster testified for the defence that she had diagnosed Pistorius with generalised anxiety disorder. On 30 June 2014 the trial resumed after the evaluation reports said Pistorius could be held criminally responsible with the state prosecutor saying that Pistorius "did not suffer from a mental illness or defect that would have rendered him not criminally responsible for the offence charged". The defense closed its case on 8 July and closing arguments were heard on 7 and 8 August. On 12 September, Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide and one firearm-related charge of reckless endangerment related to discharging a firearm in a restaurant. He was found not guilty of two other firearm-related charges relating to possession of illegal ammunition and firing a firearm through the sunroof of a car. On 21 October 2014, he received a prison sentence of a maximum of five years for culpable homicide and a concurrent three-year suspended prison sentence for the separate reckless endangerment conviction.
In June 2015, Pistorius was recommended for early release, as early as August. South African Commissioner of Correctional Services Zach Modise told the BBC of the decision by the case management committee at the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria, where Pistorius was being held: "Under South African law he is eligible for release under 'correctional supervision' having served a sixth of his sentence." After Pistorius served approximately one-sixth of his prison term, his release date to house arrest was announced for 21 August 2015. This release was based on good behaviour and the fact that he was not considered a danger to the community. Pistorius was expected to remain under house arrest and correctional supervision, and was expected to perform community service as part of his continuing sentence. Regardless of his release from prison, Pistorius could not return to official athletic competition until the whole five years of his sentence was complete. On 19 August 2015, his release was unexpectedly blocked by South Africa's Justice Minister Michael Masutha. According to Masutha, the parole board's decision for early release was "premature". Legal experts noted that the move could have been due to political pressure and had implications for other cases of pending early release. He was released from prison on 19 October 2015.
On 4 November 2014, prosecutors applied to the sentencing judge for permission to appeal the culpable homicide verdict, stating that the five-year prison term was "shockingly light, inappropriate and would not have been imposed by any reasonable court". Judge Thokozile Masipa ruled on 10 December 2014 that the prosecution could challenge her ruling of acquitting Pistorius of premeditated murder and convicting him of the lesser charge of culpable homicide; however she ruled that the state could not appeal the length of the sentence. The case was then set for appeal in front of a five-person panel at the Supreme Court of Appeal. The date for prosecutors to submit court papers outlining their arguments was set for 17 August 2015, and the date for the defence team's response was set for 17 September 2015. The date for the appeal hearing was set for November 2015. The prosecutors' argument rested on Judge Masipa's application of the legal principle of dolus eventualis (whether an accused did actually foresee the outcome of his actions, rather than whether he or she should have), and that the judge made an error in concluding Pistorius had not foreseen that by firing four shots through the closed door of the toilet cubicle, he would kill or injure whoever was behind the door. The appeal was heard on 3 November 2015, in the Supreme Court of Appeal, Bloemfontein. The matter was heard before five Supreme Court judges. By a unanimous decision, the court overturned Pistorius's culpable homicide conviction and found him guilty of murder in the death of Reeva Steenkamp. Judge Eric Leach read the summary of judgment. The panel of five judges found for the prosecutor's argument that Pistorius must have known that someone would die if he fired through the closed door into a small toilet cubicle. In the words of Judge Leach, "Although he may have been anxious, it is inconceivable that a rational person could have believed he was entitled to fire at this person with a heavy-calibre firearm, without taking even that most elementary precaution of firing a warning shot, which the accused said he elected not to fire as he thought the ricochet might harm him." According to the judgment, the person who Pistorius thought was in the cubicle had nothing to do with the results of his actions. The culpable homicide verdict was replaced with a murder conviction, and the case was referred back to the trial court for a sentencing hearing when it reconvened on 18 April 2016. On 8 December 2015, it was announced Pistorius would continue to remain free on bail but under house arrest pending his appeal to the Constitutional Court. On 3 March 2016, it was announced Pistorius had been denied his right to appeal, and would next be due in court on 13 June 2016 to begin a five-day sentencing hearing for the murder conviction, concluding on 17 June 2016. On 15 June 2016, the sentencing was adjourned by Judge Thokozile Masipa until 6 July 2016.
On 6 July 2016, Judge Thokozile Masipa sentenced Pistorius to six years' imprisonment for murder, rather than her original sentencing of five years' imprisonment for culpable homicide; once again he was incarcerated in the hospital wing at the Kgosi Mampuru II jail. It was anticipated that Pistorius would be eligible for release on parole, after serving three years of his sentence, in 2019. On 7 August 2016, Pistorius was treated at Kalafong Hospital, in Pretoria, after sustaining minor injuries to his wrists after slipping in his cell. Media reports of Pistorius injuring himself intentionally were said to be "completely untrue" by his brother Carl, who added that he was "doing well given the circumstances". On 21 July 2016, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed that it would appeal against Judge Thokozile Masipa's "shockingly lenient" 6-year jail sentence. The appeal hearing took place on 26 August 2016 and the bid to appeal the sentence was rejected by Masipa, who said that the NPA had "no reasonable prospect of success" of securing a longer prison sentence for Pistorius. The NPA was then given 21 days to take its appeal bid to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA). On 15 September 2016, it was confirmed that the NPA would make a fresh bid to extend Pistorius's jail sentence and would file papers to the SCA on 16 September. After this announcement, sources associated with Pistorius's family and the defence team accused Gerrie Nel and the NPA of pursuing a "personal vendetta" against Pistorius. Pistorius was released from prison for four hours on 14 October 2016 through a compassionate leave license to attend the funeral service of his grandmother, who had died on 8 October 2016. In November 2016, Pistorius was transferred from the Kgosi Mampuru jail to Atteridgeville Correctional Centre, which is smaller and better adapted for disabled prisoners because it has better facilities for inmates including bathtubs in cells. It also holds prisoners who are serving six-year sentences or less.
