Pistorius to appear for parole dialogue with Reeva’s parents

Convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius is in custody at Gqeberha’s St Albans Correctional Centre.

And the parents of Reeva Steenkamp will, in the coming days, get the opportunity to look their daughter’s killer in the eye and ask him burning questions about her murder.

Pistorius was transferred from the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in Gauteng to St Albans in Gqeberha on Friday to take part in a victim-offender dialogue with June and Barry Steenkamp.

The disgraced Paralympian, formerly dubbed “Blade Runner”, killed Reeva in the early hours of February 14 2013 when he shot her through the closed bathroom door at his home in Pretoria.

Advocate Hannelie Bakker, on the instruction of Tania Koen Attorneys and Conveyancers, confirmed that she would be representing the Steenkamps.

Bakker said she was aware Pistorius had been transferred to St Albans and they were awaiting further details from the department of correctional services as to when the parole hearing would take place.

She said as part of the parole process, Reeva’s parents would hand in affidavits in which they would express their views and opinions on Pistorius and the parole process.

The victim-offender dialogues form part of the required processes ahead of Pistorius’s parole hearing.

Specialists such as social workers, psychologists and spiritual caregivers are brought on board to assist both parties through the sensitive process.

Pistorius’s legal representative Julian Knight said if any victim-offender dialogues were to take place, it would be a private matter arranged by the prison authorities.

“If and when it happens, it is not a public event. I have not been advised of anything,” Knight said.

Correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said he would be able to shed more light on the issue by Monday. Pistorius is serving a sentence of 13 years and five months after being found guilty of murdering Reeva.

June and Barry Steenkamp had been contacted by the department of correctional services in October with the intent to convene a parole hearing, but arrangements for them to travel to Gauteng could not be finalised. Pistorius’s eligibility for parole came after the Supreme Court of Appeal corrected its ruling on his 13½-year sentence, after it emerged that its judgment had failed to take into consideration the 506 days he had already served after first being sentenced to five years on October 21 2014.

In 2015, on appeal, the SCA overturned his culpable homicide verdict and convicted him of murder. He was then sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison.