Oscar Pistorius is still living in limbo three months after being released from prison; he has sought sanctuary at his uncle’s estate in the city of South Africa.
Pistorius was freed in January after spending almost nine years for the murder of his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. He shot her to death on Valentine’s Day, 2013, at his Pretoria apartment through a closed bathroom door.
The 37-year-old has been unable to get gainful work since being granted parole earlier this year.
Pistorius contacted two members of the International Paralympic Committee to discuss possible collaborations, but no one would consider hiring him.
Although Pistorius is not required to wear an electronic monitoring device, he will remain under observation until his term is formally over in 2029. He is subject to random drug and alcohol tests and daily inspections by the Department of Corrections.
It is imperative that Pistorius not communicate with Steenkamp’s relatives, publish any content on social media, provide any interviews, or publish a book on his experiences.
During his murder trial in 2014, he claimed that he had inadvertently shot his girlfriend of three months, Steenkamp, with a licensed 9mm handgun because he thought she was a burglar.
The Olympian and Paralympian had his sentence quadrupled from five years to thirteen years and five months after prosecutors appealed his conviction for culpable murder. He was released after completing more than half of that sentence.
Pistorius boasts about his voluntary work at his uncle’s church, NG Kerk Waterkloof, a Dutch Reformed congregation, in his parole application.
While quietly participating in the ceremonies, he is entrusted with minor maintenance and cleaning up afterward.
Seeing Pistorius last month took Aida Govender by surprise, and she said she almost didn’t recognize him. A beard now adorns his face, and he is heavyset with grown-out hair.
Putting it bluntly, she said he doesn’t look like an athlete.
Someone else from the church remarked that he seemed shy and withdrawn and appeared to have lost energy.
Following Pistorius’s release, June Steenkamp—the late Steenkamp’s mother—said that the murder of her daughter more than ten years ago still seems like a personal “life sentence” to her.
