Pistorius Granted Bail in South Africa, Awaits New Sentence

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A South African judge has granted bail to athlete Oscar Pistorius, after an appeals court last week convicted him of murder.

The double-leg amputee and Olympic sprinter will remain under house arrest while awaiting a new sentence. He was convicted of murder for shooting his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in 2013.

The appeals court overturned a manslaughter ruling against Pistorius last Thursday. The new murder charge carries a minimum 15 years in prison.

The Paralympic track and field star plans to take the case to South Africa’s Constitutional Court for review, according to his lawyer. The constitutional court is the highest court in South Africa.

This past October, Pistorius was released from prison. He served less than one year of the five-year term behind bars. He was to serve the rest of the culpable murder sentence under house arrest.

Pistorius will again appear in court April 18 to go over the next steps in the legal process.

The Olympian is not considered a flight risk. He will be issued an electronic monitoring device.

I'm Mario Ritter.

The staff of VOA News wrote this story. Jim Dresbach adapted it for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

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