Mother of Pistorius's slain girlfriend condemns possible release

Johannesburg (AFP) - The mother of Oscar Pistorius's slain girlfriend told a newspaper on Sunday it would be too soon to release the fallen 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, on Valentine's Day 2013.

Pistorius claimed that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder, firing four shots through a locked bathroom door.

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.