Oscar Pistorius granted parole a decade
after killing girlfriend
Double-amputee Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was granted parole Friday, 10 years after shooting his girlfriend through a toilet door at his home in South Africa in a killing that jolted the world.
Department of Corrections spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said Pistorius would be released from prison on Jan. 5. His parole will come with conditions, including that he not leave the area of Pretoria where he is set to live without permission from authorities. Pistorius will also attend a program to deal with his anger issues, Nxumalo said, and will have to perform community service.
Pistorius’ parole conditions will be in place for five years, the Department of Corrections said.
“Parole does not mean the end of the sentence. It is still part of the sentence. It only means the inmate will complete the sentence outside a correctional facility,” Nxumalo said.
Pistorius, who turned 37 this week, has been in jail since late 2014 for the Valentine’s Day 2013 killing of model Reeva Steenkamp, although he was released for a period of house arrest in 2015 while one of the numerous appeals in his case was heard. He was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison.
Serious offenders in South Africa must serve at least half of their sentence to be eligible for parole, which Pistorius has done.
Pistorius was at the height of his fame and one of the world’s most admired athletes when he killed Steenkamp. He shot her multiple times in the bathroom of his Pretoria villa in the predawn hours with his licensed 9mm pistol.
Friday’s parole hearing was Pistorius’ second in the space of eight months. He was wrongly ruled ineligible for early release at a first hearing in March. That was due to an error made by an appeals court over when the sentence officially started.
Pistorius was initially convicted of culpable homicide – a charge comparable to manslaughter – for killing Steenkamp. That conviction was overturned and he was convicted of murder after an appeal by prosecutors. They also appealed against an initial sentence of six years for murder, and Pistorius was ultimately sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison.
Pistorius testified at his murder trial that he killed Steenkamp by mistake, thinking she was a dangerous intruder hiding in his bathroom in the middle of the night when he fired four times through the door with his licensed 9mm pistol. Prosecutors argued that Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and reality TV star, had fled to the toilet cubicle during a late-night argument and Pistorius killed her in a rage.
Pistorius was eventually convicted of murder on a legal principle known as dolus eventualis, which means he acted with extreme recklessness and should have known that whoever was behind the door would likely be killed. It’s comparable to third-degree murder.
Steenkamp’s father, Barry Steenkamp, died in September. Her mother, June Steenkamp, did not oppose Pistorius’ parole.
Rob Matthews, a South African man whose 21-year-old daughter was murdered in 2004 and who became a Steenkamp family friend, read out a statement from June Steenkamp outside the prison before the hearing in which she said she was not opposing his parole and didn’t attend the hearing because “I simply cannot muster the energy to face him again at this stage.”
Nevertheless, “I do not believe Oscar’s version that he thought the person in the toilet was a burglar,” June Steenkamp said in the statement. “In fact, I do not know anybody who does. My dearest child screamed for her life. … I believe he knew it was Reeva.”
While out on parole, Pistorius is expected to live at his uncle’s luxurious mansion in a wealthy Pretoria suburb, where he stayed during his murder trial.
Pistorius was initially sent to Pretoria’s central prison, a notorious apartheid-era jail. He was moved to the city’s Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in 2016.
There have been only occasional glimpses of Pistorius’ life behind bars over the past decade. His father has said he has been holding bible classes for fellow prisoners, although there have also been flashes of trouble, including an altercation Pistorius had with another inmate over a prison telephone that left him requiring medical treatment.
Steenkamp’s killing happened when Pistorius was at the height of his fame and just months after he had become the first double-amputee to compete at the Olympics. He was also a multiple Paralympic sprinting champion and one of sport’s most marketable figures, having overcome the amputation of both his legs below the knee as a baby to run on specially designed carbon-fiber blades.
At his sensational trial, prosecutors argued there was another side to Pistorius’ life that involved guns and angry confrontations with others. Pistorius was also found guilty of a second charge of recklessly firing a gun in a restaurant.
Jamie Foxx accused of sexually assaulting woman
in New York restaurant
Actor Jamie Foxx has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman while dining at a New York City restaurant in 2015.
A lawsuit against the Django Unchained star was filed on Monday with the New York State Supreme Court, according to Variety.
In the legal filing, the accuser, identified only as Jane Doe, claimed Foxx led her to a “secluded” area of the Catch NYC restaurant and groped her. The woman alleged Foxx, 55, “intentionally and without consent used force” to touch her breasts and genitals.
She said Foxx appeared “intoxicated” at the time.
“The alleged incident never happened,” a representative for Foxx told Page Six. “In 2020, this individual filed a nearly identical lawsuit in Brooklyn. That case was dismissed shortly thereafter.”
“The claims are no more viable today than they were then. We are confident they will be dismissed again,” the spokesperson concluded.
Jane Doe claimed she and a friend were at a table next to Foxx and Mark Birnbaum, the owner of Catch NYC.
The woman claimed she and her friend asked Foxx for a photo together before he allegedly assaulted her. Foxx agreed to take a photo and complimented the complainant, saying she had a “supermodel body” and looked like Gabrielle Union, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states Jane Doe experienced “physical and emotional injuries, anxiety, distress, embarrassment and economic harm” as a result of the incident. She is seeking an unspecified amount of compensation.
Jane Doe is also suing the parent company of Catch NYC, Catch Hospitality Group. She alleged a security guard at the restaurant witnessed Foxx’s assault her but did not intervene.
Other business-related people have been named as defendants in allegations of negligent hiring practices, training and inadequate supervision.
Catch Hospitality Group has not released a statement about the claims.
The lawsuit against Foxx is one of many New York-based sexual assault cases currently filed against celebrities. The allegations come as part of the New York Adult Survivors Act, which in May 2022 created a one-year window for adult survivors of sexual assault to file a legal claim, even if the statute of limitations has expired. The window to file a lawsuit against an alleged abuser began on Nov. 24, 2022, and will end on Friday.
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. and Axl Rose of the band Guns N’ Roses have also been accused of sexual assault under the legislation this week.
In May, Foxx suffered what his family described as a “medical complication” and was hospitalized. The actor never disclosed the nature of what happened to him. At the time of his hospitalization, he was in Atlanta filming Netflix movie Back in Action with fellow actors Cameron Diaz and Glenn Close.
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sued by third accuser claiming
he and Aaron Hall took turns raping her
A third woman has filed a lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs, claiming that the rapper and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall both took turns raping her and a friend in the early 1990s.
The plaintiff, identified in the complaint obtained by The Post as Jane Doe, alleged that she and her pal met Combs and Hall at an event hosted by MCA Records in New York City in 1990 or 1991.
“Combs and Hall were very flirtatious and handsy with Jane Doe and her friend, offering them drinks throughout the night,” read the 10-page lawsuit filed Thursday, just before the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act.
The two performers later invited the women to Hall’s apartment for an afterparty, where Doe was allegedly “coerced” into having sex with Combs.
“After Combs finished doing his business, Jane Doe laid in bed, shocked and traumatized,” according to the court documents. “As she was in the process of getting dressed, Hall barged into the room, pinned her down and forced Jane Doe to have sex with him.”
Following the alleged rape, the woman got dressed and ran out of Hall’s home, with her friend leaving a short time later.
The friend told Jane Doe, according to the filing, that she, too, “had been forced to have sex with Combs and Hall in another room.”
“Upon information and belief, when Combs finished with Jane Doe, he and Hall switched, and they commenced assaulting Jane Doe’s friend,” the lawsuit alleged.
Doe claimed that a couple of days later, Combs came to the home where she and her friend were staying, and violently attacked her.
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