Reeva Steenkamp was killed by Oscar Pistorius on Valentine's Day 2013. Photo / Getty Images
Reeva Steenkamp was killed by Oscar Pistorius on Valentine's Day 2013. Photo / Getty Images
Oscar Pistorius due to be freed from prison on next week, just 10 months after he was jailed for killing model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. So why is he being released so soon?
Pistorius was acquitted of murdering Steenkamp deliberately but found guilty of her manslaughter by shooting at her four times through a locked lavatory door on St Valentine's Day 2013.
He was sentenced to five years in prison but was eligible for release after serving just one sixth of his sentence under "correctional supervision".
Correctional supervision is usually given to offenders who commit serious crimes but are not deemed to be a danger to the community, and are not best-served by a long stretch in South Africa's notoriously dangerous and overcrowded prisons.
Reeva Steenkamp was killed by Oscar Pistorius on Valentine's Day 2013. Photo / Getty Images
Pistorius' good behaviour in prison was taken into account, and his family will have been checked to ensure they will hold him to his release conditions.
Where will he go?
At first, Pistorius will live under virtual house arrest at his uncle's home in Pretoria's upmarket Waterkloof suburb.
He could be eligible to take part in an electronic tagging programme, 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 to run the occasional errand.
As well as the habitual parole conditions including abstaining from alcohol and drugs or touching guns, he is likely to be instructed to undertake anger management courses as well as community service.
Oscar Pistorius leaves the Pretoria High Court after he is sentenced. Photo / Getty Images
He has said he wants to work with children, but plans described at his trial to work at his uncle's school in Mozambique are likely to be scuppered by his strict release conditions.
Can he compete again?
It's unlikely. Even if the conditions of his release allowed for him to travel or compete, the International Paralympic Committee has said that he will be banned from the Rio Games and can compete only after he has completed his five-year sentence.
Oscar Pistorius in the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Photo / Getty Images
It means the next Olympic Games he could potentially compete in would be the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, by which time he will be 33 and his physical condition may have irreversibly declined.
What about Reeva's family?
Her parents Barry and June wrote to the parole board urging them not to release him early, but the release was approved anyway.
Reeva Steenkamp's parents, Barry Steenkamp and June Steenkamp. Photo / Getty Images
Mrs Steenkamp, a pub landlord from Port Elizabeth in South Africa's Eastern Cape, told her local newspaper The Citizen his early release sent the wrong message to other would-be offenders.
"I don't think it's a good idea to let him back in society so quickly," she said. "He shot my daughter through that door where she had no space to move or defend herself. One of the bullets blew her brains out, it is disgusting what he did to her - 10 months is just not enough."
And South Africans? Aren't they outraged?
The ANC Women's League, which attended the athlete's lengthy trial and frequently held noisy demonstrations outside the court, are expected to be out in force when he is released on August 21.
A group of protestors outside the Pretoria Magistrate Court. Photo / Getty Images
Steenkamp's family have made their displeasure clear and her friends and equally dismayed by the forthcoming release, but most have declined to speak publicly.
As for members of the South African public, they've got a lot to be outraged about these days - a huge gap between rich and poor, a president whose£13 million of taxpayer-funded upgrades to his private estate have been described as "obscene", and the failure to sack the country's police chief despite a damning report into the police shooting of 34 striking miners in August 2012.
South Africans do protest frequently, mostly over low wages and a failure to give them basic services like water and power in townships, but it's unlikely they'll take to the streets in any numbers because of Pistorius. A social media backlash is more likely.
So that's it? Case over?
Not exactly. South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal will in November consider an application by the prosecution for the trial judge's verdict to be upgraded to one of murder.
State prosecutor Gerrie Nel questions Oscar Pistorius during cross examination. Photo / Getty Images
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel argues that Thokozile Masipa, the trial judge, erred in her decision to acquit the athlete of murder under the principle of dolus eventualis, because he should have known that firing at Steenkamp four times through a locked bathroom door would have resulted in her death.
Should the court, which is based in the Free State city of Bloemfontein, grant the appeal, Pistorius could be resentenced to a minimum of 15 years behind bars.
Oscar Pistorius: a timeline
22 November 1986 A future Olympian is born Oscar Carl born to Henk and Sheila Pistorius in Sandton, Johannesburg. He lacked fibulas in both legs and had to have both amputated below the knee at the age of 11 months.
2002 Oscar's mother dies Sheila Pistorius dies after suffering an adverse reaction to medication after being wrongly diagnosed with hepatitis.
December 2007 Sports Personality Award Pistorius awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award for outstanding courage and achievement in the face of adversity.
May 2008 IAAF victory Pistorius wins an appeal against a decision by the governing body of athletics, the IAAF, that he cannot compete against able-bodied athletes.
August/September 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Pistorius, dubbed Blade Runner by the media, becomes the first amputee runner to compete at an Olympic Games, in London.At the conclusion of the 200m competition in the London Paralympic Games, Pistorius takes silver but complains angrily about the length of competitor Alan Oliveira of Brazil's blades. He later apologises.
14 February 2013 Arrested for shooting Reeva Pistorius arrested at his home in Pretoria after shooting dead girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
15 February 2013 Pistorius in court Pistorius appears before the Pretoria Magistrate's Court where he bursts into tears as prosecutors announce they intend to pursue a charge of premeditated murder. Two days later Pistorius's agent says all future races he is contracted to compete in have been cancelled.
19 February 2013 Reeva's funeral Reeva Steenkamp's funeral is held in Port Elizabeth. Pistorius appears in court for the first day of his bail hearing. The prosecutor says Pistorius fired four shots through a bathroom door, hitting Steenkamp three times. His defence reads a statement by Pistorius in which he says he thought Steenkamp was an intruder.
19 August 2013 Charged with murder The day on which Steenkamp would have turned 30, Pistorius appears in court. He is charged with premeditated murder and possession of unlicensed ammunition. The trial is due to begin in March 2014.
12 September 2014 Verdict: not guilty of murder Pistorius found not guilty of murder, but convicted of culpable homicide (manslaughter in British law).
21 October 2014 Five years in jail Sentenced to five years in prison for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Also given a three-year suspended sentence on a separate firearms charge. Pistorius begins sentence at Pretoria's Kgosi Mampuru prison.
5 November 2014 Prosecutors appeal South African prosecutors appeal the manslaughter verdict and the five-year sentence, arguing Pistorius should be charged with murder, which carries a prison term of at least 15 years.
8 June 2015 Pistorius to be released It is announced that Pistorius will be released under house arrest on August 21 after spending 10 months in prison. The appeal against his culpable homicide conviction will be heard in November.
