In
news for wrong reasons since, the man is ;
Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius, [simply Oscar Pistorius] better known as ‘blade-runner’. Mr.Pistorius, who was born without fibulas,
had both legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday, and he
battled for many years to compete against able-bodied athletes.
On 14thFeb
2013 life changed – he was charged with
murder of his girlfriend ReevaSteenkamp, who was shot dead at his home in
Pretoria in the early hours of that morning. Reeva, a platinum-haired model was a regular glamorous young fixture on the South African
celebrity scene.
Recent
reports indicated that he would be released this week and would be fitted with
an electronic tag upon his release, barely 300 days after he was jailed for
killing. The shamed athlete had been
recommended as an ‘ideal candidate’ for a new scheme aimed at saving money and
making space in South Africa’s overcrowded jails. The news of his probable release was met with
opposition from Reeva’s family.
Correctional
supervision is typically offered to offenders of serious crimes who are not
considered to pose any danger to society and for whom a long period in jail is
considered unhelpful to a long term rehabilitation. As part of this, it was
anticipated that Pistorius will have to carry out some sort of community
service two days a month which could take a number of forms, including cleaning
public spaces - although the authorities may conclude this would be a poor use
of his skills and high profile.
South Africa locks
up more criminals than any other country in Africa, leaving its prison staff
over-stretched, its facilities overcrowded and taxpayers over burdened by the
costs.But ……. Yesterday, MailOnline and other news
sites reported that Oscar Pistorius will not be released from prison on Friday
- as Steenkamps release poignant photo of Reeva on what would have been her
32nd birthday.
Pistorius will not
be released from prison on Friday in a shock decision from South Africa's
Department of Justice. He was sentenced for 5 years; and was likely to be
released just ten months into that term- the justice department claims the decision to
transfer him to house arrest was made 'prematurely'.
It comes on what
would have been Steenkamp's 32nd birthday. Her family has released a poignant
photo of their beloved daughter as a 14-year-old girl to mark the occasion.In
tribute to the tragic model, Reeva's parents Barry and June will visit the site
where they scattered her ashes. The lawyer representing the couple told
MailOnline that June is 'not happy' about Pistorius's delayed release because
her daughter is already gone, but the fact it happened on her birthday could mean
'justice for Reeva after all'.
That release is now
being put on hold until his case is reviewed by a parole board because the
decision to move him to house arrest - announced in June - came 'too early',
South Africa's Department of Justice added that the decision lacked legal
basis. He said Pistorius's transfer
from prison to house arrest could only be considered after he had served
one-sixth of his sentence on Friday.The fact that prison bosses ruled more than
two months ago, that the paralympian would only spend ten months behind bars
was not legal, he added.
Pistorius still
faces an appeal at the Supreme Court in November, when prosecutors will again
press for a murder conviction and a minimum jail sentence of 15 years.There
have been allegations that Oscar Pistorius has benefited from being a high
profile prisoner, but his supporters
claim that he is suffering quite the reverse of that. They criticised the announcement stating that
though it would have legal basis, the Minister who would have known about it in
October and when it was announced by correctional services in June, is choosing
the eleventh hour to raise an issue with it.
August
is 'women's month' in South Africa, when the country's appalling record of
violence against women and girls is marked in events all
over the country.
Home Detention
Curfew (HDC), or ‘tag’ as it is commonly known, is a scheme that allows certain
offenders to be released from prison early subject to an electronically
monitored curfew, practised in some countries. HDC is a privilege, not a right, and despite a
HDC date being automatically generated for the majority of prisoners, not all
prisoners will be eligible. The person
so released will have a transmitter device fitted around their ankle. The tag sends radio signals to the monitoring
unit at frequent intervals, typically once every 30 seconds or so. The two
devices are calibrated so that if the defendant leaves the curfew address the
signal from the tag no longer reaches the monitoring unit.
In Nov. 2014, Ex-News
of the World editor Andy Coulson was freed under the scheme early from 18 month
sentence and was tagged. He had been
jailed in July after conviction for conspiracy to hack phones. The sentence followed costly eight month trial
at the Old Bailey in London.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
20th Aug 2015.
