South African Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been granted bail while he awaits sentence for murder.

Judges changed his conviction from manslaughter to murder last week.
The 29-year-old killed Ms Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013 after shooting four times through a locked toilet door.

He has already served one year of his original five-year sentence in jail.
If he fails in a bid to overturn his conviction he now faces a minimum 15-year jail sentence.

Pistorius, a six-time Paralympic gold medallist whose legs were amputated below the knee as a baby, made history by becoming the first amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympics, in 2012, running on prosthetic “blades”.

Last week, South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein accepted prosecution arguments and ruled that the lower court did not correctly apply the concept of dolus eventualis – whether Pistorius knew that a death would be a likely result of his actions.

Pistorius indicated in court documents he intended to mount an appeal at the highest court in South Africa, the Constitutional Court. This could see delays of many more months.

Bail has been set at 10,000 rand ($NZ1035) Pistorius was deemed not to be a flight risk by Judge Audrey Ledwaba.

Pistorius can remain under house arrest at his uncle’s home until sentencing next year, and will be electronically tagged. He also has to hand over his passport.

He will be able to leave the house between 07:00 and midday, but will only be able to move within a 20km (12 miles) radius.

The double amputee’s bail application also revealed that he had enrolled to study “a BSc business with law degree” at the London School of Economics.

The university does not offer that degree nor correspondence courses, but believes the athlete may have been referring to a course offered internationally through the University of London, whose academic direction is decided by the LSE, British media report.