Don't want to waste my life in jail: Oscar Pistorius

Convicted Paralympian says his late girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp would want him to be free and do charity than be behind bars

Johannesburg: Convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius has said he believes his late girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp would want him to devote his life to charity rather than be sent back to prison for killing her.

Oscar Pistorius

The South African former Paralympian athlete, who is awaiting a jail sentence for murdering Steenkamp in 2013, told British broadcaster ITV that he did not kill his partner intentionally.

"I don't want to go back to jail. I don't want to have to waste my life sitting there," he said in footage released ahead of his first television interview, which will be screened on Friday.

"If I was afforded the opportunity of redemption, I would like to help the less fortunate," he said.

"I would like to believe that if Reeva could look down upon me that she would want me to live that life."

Pistorius, 29, shot Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day 2013, claiming he mistook her for a burglar when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet.

In the interview, he relived the night of the killing, saying "I did take Reeva's life and I have to live with that. I can smell the blood. I can feel the warmness of it on my hands. I understand the pain of peoplewho loved her and miss her. I feel that same pain. I feel that same hate for myself."

His sentence will be handed down by Pretoria High Court on July 6.

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