Murderer Oscar Pistorius Released From Prison Early, Will Serve Rest of Sentence in Mansion-Detention

Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee athlete and former international media darling and icon who essentially beat a murder rap for executing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, as she cowered, terrified and screaming, in the bathroom of his home (he fired four shots through the locked door to kill her) has gotten more kid-glove treatment from the South African “justice” system, freed after only 12 months of a five year sentence for a conviction on a much lesser charge. He spent his jail time in a cell he had all to himself in the prison hospital wing, where he wouldn't be bothered by other prisoners or sadistic guards. He'll do the rest of his sentence under mansion-arrest. He even got out an extra day early, so he wouldn't have to face the media, his jailers literally sneaking him out at night.

But there was something for the media from the Pistorius family: "The family is happy that Oscar is at home," family spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess announced to reporters clustered outside the manse of one of Oscar's relatives, in the expensive Pretoria suburb Waterkloof. (I think that's Dutch for “sewer water” or something like that.)

That's nice, Anneliese. [1]

Anneliese Burgess tossing fresh scraps of offal to the hungry dogs of the media.

Pistorius will be crammed into his uncle Arnold's three-story mansion for the remainder of his five-year “term,” where he'll be subjected to the indignities of a pool, a gym, and a large, luscious lawn, among other hardships. He will be forced to choose from among only a dozen bedrooms as his “cell.” Of course there will be electricity and clean running water and indoor plumbing, things many South Africans lack. South African is a civilized country, after all.

Pistorius' new crash pad. Oh man, that pool isn't even Olympic-size! How can 

anyone live like that? 

Well, there is a fence around it, with bars, so it kinda looks like a prison. 

A little.... If you squint real hard….

Since Pistorius is such a trustworthy fellow, he will not be required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet to monitor his whereabouts. (No doubt he will be repeatedly violating his parole conditions and getting away with it. Just wait and see.)

Oh, I almost forgot. He's supposed to perform some kind of “community service.” Not sure what “service” that could be. His lawyers will cook up some image-rehabilitating scam for him, I guess.

A Pistorius family statement moaned about the “strict conditions” of his parole, namely the up to 300 hours of “community service” he's supposed to perform over, not a month....no, not over a year…over four years. That means that out of the next 35,040 hours of poor Oscar's life, the state might rip as much as 300 hours out of it, making him pretend to do some good.

Wow! That's rough! They don't kid around in South Africa! Commit a serious felony there, and your wrist might end up all red from the slapping.

And Oscar has to see a psychotherapist, which the family complained was unnecessary. And he can't have a gun. (Now that is really going to cramp his style!)

Oh, and there's another thing. He has to meet with his victim's parents. If they want to. I guess so that he can lie again and “explain” to them that he thought that screaming woman he chased into his bathroom was really a burglar, and he's sorry about the “accident.” Or “mistake.” Or “boo-boo.” Whatever.

That's should make them feel a lot better. “Aid in the healing process,” as the banal and overused-to-death cliché goes.

But I'm being too “cynical.” As “correctional services” minister Michael Masutha explained, the goal of such a meeting would be to help Barry and June Steenkamp cope with their loss.

Right. By having to listen to a self-centered, self-pitying, over-privileged, violent thug lie through his teeth right into their faces.

I know that would make me feel better, coming from my daughter's murderer. You too, right?

Is this how the South African state makes up for letting the killer off easy? Giving the parents the “opportunity” to have a little chat with the murderer?

Bizarre.

But then, it's no stranger than that whole “reconciliation” thing, whereby the victims of the fascist apartheid regime were supposed to let bygones be bygones. “Hey, you who tortured me, who blew off my hands and eyes with a letter bomb, who beat me and chained me naked in the back of a pickup and drove around until I died, who castrated me, who murdered my friends and family, who subjected me to decades of awful repression and exploitation of every kind-- let's kiss and make up!”

That's called “pragmatism.” And the people who arranged it are great “statesmen.”

South African correctional services minister Michael Masutha 

only has the Steenkamp family's best interests at heart.

Hey, don't look at me. I thought my girlfriend was a burglar.

Anyway....Oscar Pistorius had a long history of violence, including firing guns at people, before he murdered Reeva Steenkamp. This apparently made no difference to the trial judge, or to the parole board that freed him.

Ignoring the testimony of police, of neighbors who heard Steenkamp's screams, and the forensic evidence, the trial judge, Thokozile Masipa, contemptuously dismissed the murder case brought by the prosecutors and instead found Pistorius guilty of a lesser charge, “culpable homicide,” equivalent to criminally negligent homicide, for being “reckless,” and sentenced him to “five years,” which in reality we see is really “12 months.” (The trial was a bench trial, that is, a non-jury one. Smart move on the part of Pistorius' lawyers.) Under South African law, a prisoner with a sentence of no more than five years can be released after serving only a sixth of the sentence. (Another gift from the judge.) But she did sock him with a three year sentence on top of the five, for a firearms charge- suspended.

So a violent, dangerous criminal with a history of assaultive behavior, is soon to be loosed on society thanks to celebrity privilege.

The other distinguishing feature of the Pistorius case is that while most violence in South Africa arises from the base of society, this example arose from within the fortress walls of the privileged sector of society.

Pistorius apparently is some kind of a romantic, only one with a dark twist- he executed Steenkamp on Valentine's Day in 2013. Or maybe he was displaying a sardonic sense of humor- Reeva was to give a speech at a school later that day on the topic of domestic violence. (Good one, Oscar! That'll shut the bitch's mouth!)

Pistorius is also free to participate in professional sport competitions in South Africa. However, the International Paralympics Committee has banned him from international competition until.....

2019. When he'll be allowed out of the house.

Ouch! Talk about zero tolerance!

But Pistorius may not be out of the woods yet. Prosecutors are appealing the verdict to the South African Supreme Court of Appeals, where a panel of five judges will rehear the case November 3^rd. If Pistorius is convicted of murder this time, he faces a minimum sentence of 15 years (minus early release). He's 28 now, so conceivably he could spent the last decade of his youth incarcerated.

Reeva, of course, didn't get to live out the rest of her youth, or any of the rest of her life. She was 29 when Pistorius chased her into the bathroom, where she locked the door to escape his violence.

Unfortunately, the door wasn't bulletproof.

Maybe he wasn't such a great catch, huh Reeva?

Peek-a-boooo, who's that hiding in the baath-rooom? 

I think I'll shoot a few holes in the door and find out!

 June Steenkamp, Reeva's Mom, sitting through “evidence” presented 

in court by Pistorius' lawyers. Her husband Barry is on the right.

You can't really blame the judge. It's obvious that those alien 

creatures colonizing her scalp took over her brain.

 Oscar “Pistol” Pistorius- Happy At Last.

1] Oscar's kinfolk have been quite aggressive in backing him all the way, from the day he murdered Steenkamp until today. Two weeks ago they were whining that he hadn't yet been released on parole, as he was “entitled” to be after 10 months. In fact, he was going to be released August 20, but public indignation forced the government to stall for two months. See “Pistorius family: Oscar's rights [sic!] being undermined,” Chicago Tribune, October 6, 2015.

I already analyzed the original trial. “Murderous Athlete and Erstwhile Media Darling Oscar Pistorius Beats Murder Rap,” September 13, 2014.