Oscar Pistorius denied parole in South Africa in girlfriend's death

March 31 (UPI) -- The South African authorities on Friday denied parole to disgraced paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted in 2017 for the shooting death of his girlfriend at his home.

Pistorius, who gained worldwide notoriety for sprinting with blade-like prosthetics, fell from grace in the 2013 death of Reeva Steenkamp in what the paralympic athlete said was an accidental shooting.

The parole board with South Africa's Department of Correction Services said it found that Pistorius had not finished the minimum detention period to be freed. Steenkamp's parents have opposed Pistorius' attempts at early release.

The department said Pistorius, 36, would not be considered for parole again until August 2024.

"While we welcome today's decision, today is not a cause for celebration," June and Barry Steenkamp said, according to The Guardian. "We miss Reeva terribly and will do so for the rest of our lives. We believe in justice and hope that it continues to prevail."

While Pistorius has continued to maintain that he had mistaken Steenkamp for a burglar at the time of the shooting, her parents have not accepted his explanation and until he does they will always oppose his release.

"Unless he comes clean, they don't feel that he is rehabilitated," the family's attorney Tania Koen said, according to NBC News.

Pistorius, who is serving a 13-year sentence for the shooting, had maintained he should be considered for parole earlier and sued for that right. South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeals ruled in 2021 that Pistorius's sentence should have started in 2014 when he was sentenced to the less serious culpable homicide and not in 2017 when the same court extended his sentence from six to 13 years.