TheCable

Oscar Pistorius, the Olympic and Paralympic star, who was given a five-year jail sentence after being found guilty of killing Reeva Steenkamp, his girlfriend, will be released on Tuesday.

Pistorius is to be released on correctional supervision, or house arrest.

“The board approved the placement of offender of Oscar Pistorius under correctional supervision as from 20 October 2015,” the South African department of correctional services said in a statement.

“The parole board considered all submissions, including the offender’s profile report, the directives of the Parole Review Board and the submission of the victim’s family.”

But for South Africa’s justice minister who blocked the parole from releasing him, Pistorius would have been released on August 21.

The minister had said proper procedure was not followed by the parole board.

Pistorius, who was the first paralysed athlete to compete in the 2012 London Olympic Games, shot dead Steenkamp at his home in Pretoria in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013.

He claimed he thought she was a burglar.

In her lifetime, Steenkamp had a brilliant career. The World FHM magazine voted her one of the 100 Sexiest Women in 2011.