Pistorius gets out of jail for grandad’s memorial

Disgraced Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, who is currently serving a 13-year jail sentence for murdering his girlfriend, has been allowed out to attend his grandfather’s memorial service TimesLive reports.

The convicted murderer was reportedly close to his grandfather, who passed away at 101 in October.

The former track star was accompanied by two correctional officials to the memorial and arrived in a marked correctional services vehicle. He sat at the back of the venue, at the Kleinkaap Boutique Hotel, and shielded himself from cameras.

Hendrik Pistorius, who once ran a successful agricultural limestone supply company, is survived by seven children, 23 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren. He lost his wife Gerti two years ago. She was 92.

READ MORE: I am done with Oscar Pistorius – June Steenkamp

Judge Thokozile Masipa initially convicted Pistorius in the High Court in Pretoria on a charge of culpable homicide for shooting Reeva to death behind a locked bathroom door at his house in the east of Pretoria on Valentine’s day 2013.

She sentenced him in 2013 to five years’ imprisonment, but the state appealed against his culpable homicide conviction.

The SCA in 2016 set aside his conviction and found him guilty of murder, ruling that he should have and had foreseen that he could kill whoever was behind the toilet door.

Judge Masipa thereafter re-sentenced Pistorius to six years’ imprisonment, finding that there were substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed 15-year sentence.

The state appealed again, arguing that the sentence was too lenient for murder, and would set an unacceptable precedent. They were successful, and Pistorius’ sentence was increased to 13 years and 5 months.

The Constitutional Court dismissed his application for leave to appeal the greater sentence he was given by the Supreme Court of Appeal in April, meaning that his legal options had been exhausted.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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