A South African court on Tuesday granted Paralympian Oscar Pistorius bail as he awaits sentencing after being convicted of murder for killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. He will be under house arrest at his uncle’s home in Pretoria, and may only leave between the hours of 7 a.m. and 12 p.m. He may travel no farther than 12 miles from that house, and has surrendered his passport.
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“The case is postponed to April 18”, Ledwaba said.
The details first emerged after Karyn Maughan, a South African legal affairs journalist, tweeted an extract of Pistorius’ affidavit. “It was hard to obtain employment due to my conviction and correctional supervision conditions”. “I have lost all my assets and only possess my personal assets”.
The bail application revealed Pistorius is enrolled in an online business and law course run by the London School of Economics.
On the ULU website, a business with law degree does not appear to be available for distance learning, although a BSc in management with law “with academic direction from the London School of Economics and Political Science”, costing £4,205 was available, suggesting Pistorius might have made a mistake in his court documents.
“Prosecutor Gerrie Nel had argued that authorities ‘feel strongly that he should not leave the house at any time'”.
Oscar Pistorius reacts after he was granted bail, as he leaves the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa after his bail hearing.
At the hearing Tuesday, the prosecution said Pistorius may flee to Italy or Mozambique.
Prosecutors had argued that Pistorius was a flight risk and had asked that the terms of his bail to be more restrictive, to reflect the seriousness of the crime.
He added that conditions for bail, if granted, should be “extremely tight”.
“This is now different”.
“He is convicted of murder, and he is a first offender”.
The double-amputee Olympian now faces at least 15 years in jail – a new sentence will be handed down at a later date.
“I have no doubt that in firing the fatal shots the accused must have foreseen that whoever was behind the toilet door might die but reconciled with that event occurring and gambled with that person’s life”, Judge Eric Leach had said.
Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba said Pistorius must be electronically monitored.
Pistorius is now allowed some freedom of movement outside the home. An appeal court may not weigh testimony again, overturning a trial court’s conclusions based on that evidence, but is entitled to determine if a trial judge failed to take into account certain evidence in reaching a conclusion.
He said “a lot of paper” is used in a Constitutional Court application.
Pistorius can challenge the opinion in the constitutional court but only when his attorneys can claim that his constitutional rights are broken.
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He never fired a warning shot and shot not once, but four times.
