JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - The mother of Oscar Pistorius' slain girlfriend told a newspaper on Sunday it would be too early 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.