Pistorius to transfer to house arrest on Tuesday

Oscar Pistorius, the Olympic runner who shot his girlfriend to death on Valentine’s Day 2013, will leave prison and move to house arrest next week, South Africa’s Department of Corrections said Thursday.

A parole board at the prison where Pistorius has served nearly a year of his five-year sentence for manslaughter made the decision. It came after an initial ruling to release the double-amputee athlete in August was canceled.

The board “approved the placement of offender Oscar Pistorius under correctional supervision as from October 20, 2015,” the corrections department said in Thursday’s statement.

Read also: Soon to be free Pistorius faces 15 years imprisonment

Pistorius was acquitted of murder last year for the shooting to death of Reeva Steenkamp, but prosecutors have appealed that decision and will seek a murder conviction again at South Africa’s Supreme Court on November 3.

If Pistorius is convicted of murder by a panel of judges at that appeal, he would face a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now