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A lawyer explains Pistorius' release delay

Thursday, August 20 2015 by SNTV
  • A South African legal expert explained on Wednesday (19 August) why the country's justice minister made the decision to block the early release of Oscar Pistorius after the athlete served just 10 months of his five-year sentence.

    Script:

    SOUNDBITE (English) Mr. Mannie Witz, South African lawyer:

    "Well the validity is, he (South African Justice Minister Michael Masutha) is saying that if your due date - whether it's Mr. (Oscar) Pistorius or any other person - if your due date is the 21st August, forgetting that it originally came to his attention by way of the fact that it's Women's Month and we had our national Women's Day on the 9th August, he is saying that's what was brought to his attention but he then looked into the committees, the parole boards and various decisions that had been taken and he is of the opinion (that the decision to release Pistorius is premature). That is why he is referring it to the review committee, is that this was done prematurely, he should only have only being considered after his one-sixth (of his sentence) was up and not before. So that's a valid reason that the Minister has given and it's something that needs to be checked to see whether or not it is correct or not. So at the moment I believe he has given a valid reason"

    2. 00:44 SOUNDBITE (English) Mr. Mannie Witz, South African lawyer:

    Question - Will the justice minister's decision affect Pistorius' eligibility for early release?

    "No it won't affect his eligibility at all. Once everything has been done, and if he is a suitable candidate and he complies, and if they can impose the conditions, then it won't affect him at all. What you need to know and what is very, very important is that if you don't comply even when you are released, they can take you back, they will give you warnings. They can take you back to court and you can get your full sentence, then you don't get the benefit of this community-based sentence."

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