News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

This article was first published 9 years ago
Home  » Sports » 'Blade Runner' Pistorius starts community service

'Blade Runner' Pistorius starts community service

November 14, 2015 21:17 IST
Get Rediff News in your Inbox:

South Africa's ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius on Saturday started performing community service as part of his parole conditions after being released from prison last month, local media reported.

Oscar PistoriusThe Paralympic gold medallist was freed on parole less than a year into a five-year sentence for the "culpable homicide" of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, who he killed on Valentine's Day in 2013.

State prosecutors have appealed the High Court's decision to sentence Pistorius for a lesser offence, calling on the Supreme Court to convict him of murder and send him back to jail.

Murder has a minimum 15-year sentence.

A video on a local news site, News24, showed Pistorius -- in his first public appearance since his release -- arriving at the Garsfontein police station in Pretoria and walking past reporters and photographers who were waiting outside the station.

He didn't respond to a question from one of the reporters asking how he was doing.

Pistorius, dubbed ‘Blade Runner’ because of the carbon fibre prosthetic blades he uses to compete, was freed from prison in line with sentencing guidelines that say non-dangerous prisoners should spend only a sixth of a custodial sentence behind bars.

Image: South African Olympic and Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius (centre) is escorted to a police van after his sentencing at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on October 21, 2014

Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/Files/Reuters

Get Rediff News in your Inbox:
Source: REUTERS
© Copyright 2024 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

India In Australia 2024-2025