Pistorius moves from jail to house arrest at uncle’s mansion
JOHANNESBURG — Oscar Pistorius was with his family at his uncle’s mansion Tuesday after the Olympic athlete who killed his girlfriend was released from prison under cover of darkness and moved to house arrest a day earlier than expected.
“Oscar is here, and Oscar is at home with the family,” said Anneliese Burgess, the spokeswoman for the Pistorius family, outside Arnold Pistorius’ home in Waterkloof, an upmarket suburb of South Africa’s capital Pretoria. “The family is happy that Oscar is at home.”
Pistorius, the doubleamputee runner who fatally shot Reeva Steenkamp in 2013, was moved from a Pretoria jail on Monday night when he had been expected to be released on Tuesday.
The murder trial of Pistorius generated intense international interest. The surprising decision to release Pistorius a day early, and at night, appeared to have avoided the spectacle and logistical challenges caused by a large gathering of TV crews and other journalists hoping to catch a glimpse of Pistorius on the way out of prison, nearly a year to the day after he was sent to jail.
Pistorius has served a year of a five-year sentence for manslaughter for killing Steenkamp. Under South African law, he is eligible to serve the remainder under correctional supervision, a form of house arrest.
Confirming Pistorius’ release, South Africa’s Department of Corrections said the decision over when and how an offender is released is made by the prison.
“The handling of the actual placement is an operational matter of the local management, and how they handle it is their prerogative that is carried out in the best interest of all parties concerned,” Manelisi Wolela, a spokesman for the corrections department, said in a text message.
Pistorius, 28, will be under house arrest at the grand home with lush, landscaped gardens and a large, crossshaped swimming pool. Many ambassadorial residences line the street.
Apparently responding to criticism that Pistorius’ release after just a year in prison was too lenient, Burgess said Pistorius’ sentence “has not been shortened or reduced.
“He now enters the next phase of his sentence. He will serve this under the strict conditions that govern correctional supervision,” she said.
Under South African law, an offender sentenced to five years or less in jail can be released to correctional supervision after serving onesixth of the term — in Pistorius’s case, 10 months.
Pistorius was acquitted of murder last year for the Valentine’s Day shooting death of Steenkamp, but prosecutors have appealed the trial verdict of culpable homicide, or manslaughter, and will seek a murder conviction again at South Africa’s Supreme Court on Nov. 3.