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AP/Press Association Images

Reeva Steenkamp's mother says her daughter's life is worth more than 10 months in jail

Oscar Pistorius could be out of jail in the summer.

THE MOTHER OF Oscar Pistorius’s slain girlfriend has said it would be be too early to release the Paralympian from prison as early as August for good conduct.

The 28-year-old South African double amputee sprinter was found guilty last year of culpable homicide — a charge akin to manslaughter — and sentenced to five years in prison for shooting his girlfriend, model and TV presenter Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius claimed that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder, firing four shots through a locked bathroom door on Valentine’s Day 2013.

He is now waiting for the South African prison authorities to decide whether to grant him conditional release, possibly from August.

If Pistorius is released then, he will have spent just 10 months in prison.

“I don’t think it is long enough for somebody who has caused somebody’s death,” Reeva’s mother June Steenkamp told South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper.

“Surely her life is worth more than 10 months’ incarceration? He’s taken something so precious out of our lives. Her life is gone,” Steenkamp added.

“All I could think about was her in that toilet and that she couldn’t move. She couldn’t get out of the way. She was trapped in there. She was suffering. She was in pain and agony. Her brains all over… I’ve had nightmares over that.”

Reeva Steenkamp was 29-years-old when Pistorius shot her dead.

Pistorius, 28, has been serving his sentence in a central Pretoria prison since October.

© – AFP 

Read: Oscar Pistorius ‘could be out of jail in 10 months’ >

Read: Prosecutor says Pistorius should spend at least 10 years behind bars >

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    Mute Ryan
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    May 17th 2015, 2:09 PM

    What a joke of a sentence!

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    Mute Mary Mc Carthy
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    May 17th 2015, 4:37 PM

    Ah you forget that he is ‘white’ and ‘famous’. They seem to live by different rules . I hope his next victim, sorry, I mean girlfriend carries life insurance.

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    Mute ryan humpage
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    May 17th 2015, 9:02 PM

    come on, he has paid his debt to society, let him get on to rebuild his life

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    Mute FDL_
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    May 17th 2015, 11:25 PM

    ^^surely a troll!!

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    Mute Raymond Power
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    May 17th 2015, 3:07 PM

    Never understood time off for good behaviour.If you get 5 years…..serve 5 years, your sentence is linked to your crime not how well or otherwise you behave behind bars.Behave well and you serve your term behave otherwise and have time added to your sentence.

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    Mute Suzie Sunsine
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    May 17th 2015, 2:18 PM

    My heart goes out to her , she lost her child and he might get out in time for summer but what I can’t get my head around is why did accept money from him throughout the trial ? I know their daughter was supporting them financially before that but I just couldn’t take money off him .

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    Mute Joan Featherstone
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    May 17th 2015, 2:37 PM

    Suzie, I was totally gobsmacked when I read that…very strange behaviour under the circumstances.

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    Mute Suzie Sunsine
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    May 17th 2015, 2:54 PM

    Joan , I just can’t believe a mother would do such a thing , it kind of changed my views on her .

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    Mute The Man With No Name
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    May 17th 2015, 2:15 PM

    How about we focus on the plethora of failings in the Irish criminal justice system? It’s not like we are short on unduly lenient sentences.

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    Mute winding_down
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    May 17th 2015, 2:18 PM

    Agreed. A life sentence in Ireland is 22 years, but in reality with good behaviour a convicted murderer can be free 14 or 15 years later.

    Unbelievable when you think about it, isn’t it?

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    Mute cholly appleseed
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    May 17th 2015, 2:30 PM

    The average life sentence served in ireland is 18 yrs. The problem I see is the dpp going with manslaughter over murder. Manslaughter serve on average 5 yrs. In ireland it’s not uncommon to hear of someone who stabs someone multiple times as getting manslaughter or a criminal who drives a car deliberately at a cop in donegal and pins him against the wall killing him, all charged with manslaughter over murder. These are just two examples I recall where they are clearly murder but dpp strangely goes with manslaughter.

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    Mute Biodiversity Watch On Biology-ie
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    May 17th 2015, 5:07 PM

    We don’t have a criminal justice system – we have a criminal law system. That’s the problem in Ireland. It’s about laws and not justice.

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    Mute Andy Masterson
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    May 17th 2015, 7:47 PM

    No, it’s not actually

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    Mute Arthur Callaghan
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    May 17th 2015, 2:16 PM

    Killed his wife in a jealous rage cold blooded murder, he wont even do the full 10 months.

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    Mute Graham Kavanagh
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    May 17th 2015, 2:32 PM

    What would happen then if her mother killed him in a rage over a miscarriage of justice….?

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    Mute Suzie Sunsine
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    May 17th 2015, 2:37 PM

    It was his girlfriend , not his wife and murder has to be premeditated and I don’t think that there was enough evidence to prove that .

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    May 17th 2015, 2:47 PM

    Who actually believes his story? Who?

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    Mute Graham Kavanagh
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    May 17th 2015, 2:52 PM

    Superior white South African men….

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    Mute Suzie Sunsine
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    May 17th 2015, 2:52 PM

    I don’t think anybody believed him

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    Mute judy burke
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    May 17th 2015, 3:02 PM

    Can you just imagine the reaction to that ‘sentence’ if Reeva had not been white …………..
    An international outcry and riots on the streets of South Africa !

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    Mute Eamonn coughlan
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    May 17th 2015, 3:11 PM

    Superior as in two legs is it Graham?

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    Mute Alan Corlett
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    May 17th 2015, 3:25 PM

    You don’t need legs to think your superior.

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    Mute Biodiversity Watch On Biology-ie
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    May 17th 2015, 5:09 PM

    See, you are quoting rules or laws which have nothing to do with justice.

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    Mute cosmological
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    May 17th 2015, 2:15 PM

    You knew this was coming but it doesn’t make it any more palatable.

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    Mute ohaimhirghin
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    May 17th 2015, 2:11 PM

    He would have been out after 5 months if it happened in Ireland

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    Mute Medusa
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    May 17th 2015, 6:15 PM

    He basically got away with murder.

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    Mute John
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    May 17th 2015, 5:11 PM

    Money money money money money. When you have it you can do what you like.

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    Mute Alan Corlett
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    May 17th 2015, 2:28 PM

    And we wonder why people support the death sentence.

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    Mute Al. S. 82
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    May 17th 2015, 2:48 PM

    If he gets out after 10 months he’ll go to the first pub he finds and get legless

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    Mute john casey
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    May 17th 2015, 2:45 PM

    At least he won’t walk out on he’s own two feet the b..t–d

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    Mute Gavin Quirke
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    May 17th 2015, 7:35 PM

    Does this mean he could be in the Olympics in 2016?

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    Mute Irish Druid
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    May 17th 2015, 8:36 PM

    One law for the rich another for the rest.

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