Oscar Pistorius Granted Bail

Oscar Pistorius – who told a bail hearing Tuesday that he was enrolled in a London School of Economics business law course – will appeal his murder conviction to South Africa’s highest court, the constitutional court.

Pistorius is next scheduled to appear in court on April 18, to confirm the next steps in the legal process.

Bail is often denied in cases where a conviction is overturned for a harsher verdict, but Pistorius’ compliance with previous bail and house arrest conditions may have influenced the judge’s decision, said Manny Witz, a South African legal expert.

Pistorius was ordered to surrender his passport and continue living under house arrest at his uncle’s property in Pretoria.

Pistorius will be put under electronic monitoring, the judge added.

Athlete Pistorius indicated in his affidavit that he would approach the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal his murder conviction handed down by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) last week.

He is being asked to pay 10,000 rand ($700, £450) for his bail.

Pistorius was released into correctional supervision earlier this year after having served one-sixth of his original sentence.

Prosecutor Mr Nel told the court he doubted that this next appeal would be successful.

Pistorius can challenge the opinion in the constitutional court but only when his attorneys can claim that his constitutional rights are broken.

Advocate Gerrie Nel argued that Pistorius should not be allowed to leave his uncle’s Waterkloof home because he has now been found guilty of a more serious crime.

Today, the athlete was granted bail of R10,000 and will remain under house arrest; this time under stricter conditions.

He now faces a minimum 15-year jail sentence for Steenkamp’s murder.

The release comes less than a week after South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal convicted the former Olympian of murder, overturning a lower court’s conviction of manslaughter in the 2013 death of Steenkamp.

Under the terms of his bail, Pistorius was given permission to leave the house where he’s residing between 7 a.m. and noon every day.

The lawyer of Oscar Pistorius has also announced that Pistorius will launch an appeal against his murder conviction.

“He’s supposed to get 15 years in jail; he deserves it”, said Thomas Mdlule, a 30-year-old selling newspapers on a corner close to the court.

He said “a lot of paper” is used in a Constitutional Court application.

He said if their application failed they will return to the Pretoria high court to have their client sentenced.