Oscar Pistorius thinks his murder victim Reeva Steenkamp would want him to "help the less fortunate" rather than "waste my life" in prison.
The Guardian yesterday published excerpts from the interview Pistorius gave British broadcaster ITV, which is scheduled to be aired tonight.
During the interview, the former Paralympian cried snot en trane, and even "howled" as he tried to justify shooting and killing Reeva while she hid behind a closed toilet door in his house.
The 29-year-old double-amputee Olympic sprinter admitted that he deserved to sit in the tjoekie for killing Reeva on Valentine's Day in 2013.
Judge Thokozile Masipa initially rejected prosecution's argument that he had murdered the late model after a quarrel, instead accepting Pistorius' account that he mistook her for a burglar.
After he fired the shots “in panic”, he looked for Reeva. He broke down the locked bathroom door, discovering to his horror that he had killed her.
Masipa sentenced him to five years in jail for culpable homicide.
But an appeals court turned the verdict into murder. Masipa is now due to hand out a new sentence on July 6.
A murder verdict carries a minimum sentence of 15 years for a first-time offender in South Africa.
Pistorius said in the interview that he “couldn’t disagree” with those who said he should be punished.
“At times I don’t feel like I should have the right to live for taking someone else’s life. What’s difficult is dealing with the charge of murder,” he said.
But the athlete also said he did not want to “waste my life” behind bars.
“If I was afforded the opportunity of redemption, I would like to help the less fortunate, like I had in my past,” he said.
“I would like to believe that if Reeva could look down upon me that she would want me to live that life,” he added.
Pistorius told ITV he “saw the pain” he had caused and said that most of his mutual friends with Reeva “don’t speak to me any more”.