Oscar Pistorius to be freed on Friday

Johannesburg: After serving 10 months for killing his girlfriend, South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is expected to be released from prison on Friday, media reports said on Monday.

Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison in October 2014 after he was convicted of killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine's Day in 2013. He fired four shots through the locked door of the toilet in his Pretoria home, apparently thinking Steenkamp was an intruder hiding inside.

However, the State is to file its heads of argument in its appeal against the Pistorius' ruling at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Monday, News 24 reported. National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaka said the filings were of an administrative nature.

If the court grants the appeal scheduled for November, Pistorius could be re-sentenced to 15 years behind bars.

In March, Judge Thokozile Masipa rejected the bid by Pistorious' lawyers to stop the State from appealing her finding that Pistorius was guilty of culpable homicide. The State wants him convicted of the more serious charge of murder, which carries a heavier sentence.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel argued that Judge Masipa erred in her decision to acquit the athlete of murder under the principle of dolus eventualis, because he should have known that firing four times through a locked bathroom door would have resulted in death.

He will be released from the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria and will remain under house arrest.

According to sources, Pistorius will live at his uncle Arnold's home in Pretoria's Waterkloof suburb. He could be taking part in an electronic tagging program or will have to check in regularly with a parole officer and at first will be allowed only to leave the house to go to work or run the occasional errand.

(IANS)