The 37-year-old ex-Paralympian murdered his 29-year-old girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013, after shooting at her through a locked bathroom door.

He later stated that he thought she was an intruder trying to burgle his Pretoria house.

Pistorius was convicted of murder in 2015 after an appeal court overturned his verdict of culpable homicide and to this day, has spent about eight and a half years in jail as well as seven months under home arrest.

He will be released today under strict parole conditions, until his sentence expires in 2029.

The law in South Africa states that all offenders are entitled to be considered for parole once they have served half their total sentence, which for Pistorius was 13 years and 5 months.

In November 2023, a parole board decided he could be freed on January 5, 2024, after completing more than half his sentence.

Pistorius will be monitored by an official until December 2029 when his sentence expires.

He will need to inform them if he seeks out any job opportunities or moves to a new address.

As part of his parole conditions, he will also be required to continue anger management therapy and attend sessions on gender-based violence, a lawyer for the Steenkamp family said in November.

Pistorius is expected to live at the home of his uncle Arnold Pistorius in a wealthy Pretoria suburb, according to local media reports.

Pistorius shot Ms Steenkamp four times through the locked bathroom door of his home in the early hours of Valentine’s Day back in 2013.

She was shot in the head, hip and arm and Pistorius later claimed in court that it was only when he broke the bathroom door down that he realised it was his girlfriend.

He insisted that he believed her to be an intruder, due to living in a country where crime is rife and burglaries are not uncommon.

However, his pleas did not sway the jury and Pistorius – dubbed the “Blade Runner” because of his carbon-fibre prosthetic legs – was sentenced to 13 years and five months.

Ms Steenkamp was born in 1983 in Cape Town and had been a model from the age of 14. She would later appear in men’s magazine FHM as well as being the face of numerous beauty and jewellery brands in South Africa.

She studied law at university and alongside her modelling career worked as a legal assistant with hopes to be admitted to the bar.

A familiar face on South African red carpets, as her fame grew she also appeared on television and was a contestant on a reality TV show that didn’t broadcast until after her death.

She began dating Pistorius in November 2012 and by February the following year, the couple were living together in his Pretoria home. It was in this home that her death occurred.

Ms Steenkamp’s mother June reportedly did not oppose parole, the BBC reported, a decision which is thought to have helped his prison release.

She said she had forgiven Pistorius but in a letter submitted to the hearing stated that she did not believe his defence that he thought the person in the toilet was an intruder.

“My dearest child screamed for her life – loud enough for the neighbours to hear her,” she said.

“I do not know what gave rise to his choice to shoot through a closed door four times … when I believe, he knew it was Reeva.”

June Steenkamp also said she believed his anger issues had not been resolved in prison.

“Rehabilitation requires someone to engage honestly with the full truth of his crime and the consequences thereof,” she wrote.

“Nobody can claim to have remorse if they are not able to engage fully with the truth.

“If someone does not show remorse, they cannot be considered to be rehabilitated. If they are not rehabilitated, their risk of recidivism is high.”

June Steenkamp said that her daughter’s death had left a “massive hole,” in her life.

She added that any woman who came into contact with Pistorius could potentially be in danger.

Ms Steenkamp’s father Barry died in September 2023, with his wife telling the parole board she believed he died from a broken heart after the grief of losing his daughter.

Originally published as Oscar Pistorius will be released on parole, 11 years after murdering his ex-girlfriend