Oscar Pistorius: gets bail

A South African court on Tuesday granted bail to paralympian Oscar Pistorius after he was convicted of murder for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013, with the judge saying the athlete did not pose a flight risk.

The Supreme Court last Thursday upgraded the 29-year-old athlete’s sentence to murder from culpable homicide, South Africa’s equivalent of manslaughter, for which he had received a five-year sentence.

Known as “Blade Runner” because of the carbon fibre prosthetic blades he used to race, Pistorius now faces a minimum 15-year jail sentence for murdering his girlfriend.

The disgraced athlete will be strictly monitored and electronically tagged while under house arrest as he awaits his sentencing hearing, set for April 18.

The former millionaire was able to offer bail of just 10,000 rand (£450) to the court – a fraction of the amount he offered in security nearly three years ago when he was first arrested over the death of his girlfriend.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said ‘his links to Italy and other countries’ as well as the severity of his crime which carries ‘a minimum of 15 years’ meant Pistorius needed to be ‘monitored 24 hours a day’.