Oscar Pistorius parole ruling to take up to four months

South Africa’s parole review board has up to four months to conclude its decision on when Oscar Pistorius can be released from prison, a Justice Ministry spokesman said yesterday.

Paralympic gold medallist Pistorius, 28, was due to be released into house arrest on Friday after serving 10 months of a five-year sentence for killing his girlfriend, model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day 2013.

However, Justice Minister Michael Masutha, blocked his proposed release on Wednesday because he said the decision was made without legal basis, an intervention the Pistorius family said left them “shocked and disappointed”.