Oscar’s bail rules eased

OSCAR Pistorius’s bail conditions were relaxed slightly when he appeared in the Pretoria High Court yesterday. Pistorius, 29, shot dead former Port Elizabeth model Reeva Steenkamp two years ago. He appeared publicly for the first time yesterday since he lost his final bid to appeal against his murder conviction.

Pistorius’s father‚ Henke‚ and sister Aimee were seated in the first row of the public gallery during the proceedings.

Wearing a black suit, black tie and white shirt, Pistorius left the court after the brief hearing and walked through a scrum of television camera crews outside to get into a vehicle.

The amended bail conditions allow Pistorius to travel outside a 20km radius from home with the permission of the police investigating officer in his case.

Previously, Pistorius had to approach the Department of Correctional Services if he wanted to travel further than 10km from his home or outside the times set down in his bail conditions.

Pistorius was fitted with an electronic monitoring tag after his last bail hearing in December.

His legal team told the court yesterday that the tag had been replaced three times but often sent false alerts that he had left his uncle’s house.

Pistorius‚ who is out on bail of R10 000‚ has been confined to his uncle Arnold’s luxury home in Waterkloof‚ Pretoria‚ and allowed to leave the house only between 7am and noon.

Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba postponed the case to June 13 for sentencing proceedings.

“During the five days set down for sentencing procedures, both sides will present their evidence, and the judge will go back to apply his mind before making his decision,” lawyer Martin Hood said.

Supporters of the double amputee athlete have flown to South Africa from various countries to express their dismay at what they called a “trial by media” and a “miscarriage of justice”.

Heather Malcherczyk, from the United Kingdom, said yesterday she and some friends had travelled to South Africa a few days ago to support Pistorius.

“I’ve always believed it was a terrible accident,” Malcherczyk said.

“He has no history of violence. No history of domestic violence.

“He is disabled ... This is a violent country. He acted out of fear.”

Elizabeth McGill, from the US, said she sympathised with Pistorius because she had been “paranoid” with fear when she lived in South Africa from 1983 to ’98.

Pistorius must be sentenced afresh after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) overturned his culpable homicide conviction last year for killing Steenkamp and instead found him guilty of murder.

The Constitutional Court dismissed Pistorius’s application last month for leave to appeal against the SCA ruling.

Pistorius was released from prison into correctional supervision in October after having served about a year of his five-year jail term for culpable homicide.

After the hearing, Henke embrace a Pistorius supporter, who handed him a flag bearing the words “. . . for Oscar”. – Additional reporting by AFP