Pistorius granted bail after murder conviction

SOUTH African Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius,
has been granted bail while he awaits sentence
for murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp,
in 2013.
Judges changed his conviction from manslaughter
to murder last week. He has already served one
year in prison.
Pistorius now faces a minimum sentence of 15
years’ imprisonment, if he fails in a bid to
overturn his conviction.
He intends to mount an appeal at the highest
court in South Africa, the Constitutional Court.
This could see delays of many more months,
reported the BBC at the high court in the South
African capital, Pretoria.
Now that Oscar Pistorius has been granted bail, it
must have come as a huge relief that he will
spend Christmas at home. Sitting in court, I was
left with an impression that the judge was not
interested in imposing strict conditions.
Pistorius himself looked relaxed, chatting and
laughing with his legal team during the brief
adjournment while the judge was considering his
fate.
The double amputee’s bail application also
revealed that he had enrolled to study “a BSc
business with law degree” at the London School
of Economics – but the university says it does not
offer that degree or correspondence courses.
Pistorius indicated in court documents that he
intended to lodge an appeal to the highest court
in the land. This would be the very last legal
avenue available for the disgraced athlete to
overturn his conviction.
Bail has been set at 10,000 rand ($700, £450).
Pistorius was deemed not to be a flight risk by
Judge Audrey Ledwaba.
Pistorius can remain under house arrest at his
uncle’s home until sentencing next year, and will
be electronically tagged. He also has to hand over
his passport.
He will be able to leave the house between 07:00
and midday, but will only be able to move within
a 20km (12 miles) radius.
He is currently under house arrest after spending
one year of his original five-year sentence in jail.