Amended SCA ruling brings Pistorius parole date nearer

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has amended its decision to increase convicted killer Oscar Pistorius’ sentence, after it emerged that its judgment failed to take into account the 506 days that he had already served for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The five judges who increased Pistorius’ murder sentence from six years behind bars to 13 years and five months' imprisonment corrected their ruling, so that it is recorded as having come into effect on 6 July 2016 – the day he was first sentenced for murder by Judge Thokozile Masipa, notes News24. ‘It is quite clear from the judgment delivered … that the court intended to antedate the sentence to 6 July 2016,’ Registrar Paul Myburgh stated in the amended order. ‘Unfortunately the court omitted to include the antedating of the sentence in the order itself.’ The Correctional Services Department has confirmed that the amendment – which was not opposed by the National Prosecuting Authority – means Pistorius will now be eligible for parole in March 2023, when he completes half his sentence, and not in late 2024.

The correction came about following a letter to the SCA judges – Willie Seriti, Colin Lamont, Lebotsang Bosielo, Pieter Meyer and Fikile Mokgohloa – from Pistorius’ lawyer Julian Knight. He wrote to them in May last year, expressing concern over the way in which Correctional Services officials were interpreting their ruling, says the News24 report. ‘The prison authorities on interpreting the new Committal Warrant, issued pursuant to the above case number, are of the view that the 13 years and five month sentence constitutes a new sentence, the commencement date being the date of judgment of the SCA on the 24th of November 2017,’ he stated. This meant that the authorities were not taking into account the period of time Pistorius had served after being sentenced for murder by Masipa. Masipa was forced to re-sentence Pistorius after the SCA overturned her finding that Pistorius was guilty of culpable homicide, the grossly negligent killing of Steenkamp, and instead convicted him of murder under the principle of dolus eventualis.