After challenging his bail terms in court, South African athlete Oscar Pistorius who shot his girlfriend dead has been granted permission to travel abroad.
The Olympic and Paralympic star would now be allowed to leave South Africa to compete as long as he complies with certain conditions and can also return to his home in Pretoria, where his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was shot and killed.
BBC reports that Pistorius also sought an end to supervision by a probation officer and compulsory drug and alcohol testing but the state opposed the application.
On February 22nd, Magistrate Desmond Nair set his bail at 1Million rand (£73,000), and Pistorius was ordered not to return to Silver Woods estate, where the shooting took place. He was also ordered to hand over his two South African passports, abstain from drinking alcohol and report to a police station twice a week.
BBC however reports that the terms were relaxed by Judge Bert Bam, who described the decision not to grant Pistorius permission to travel as “wrong”.
In his defence, Pistorius’s lawyer Barry Roux told the BBC that the bail conditions amounted to “house arrest”.
“It is not as if the appellant is travelling for holiday in Mauritius; it’s only to gain an income, there’s no other reason,” he was quoted as saying.
SHIT HAPPENS!! I DEY TELL U.
I am not judging him, I hav not convicted him in my court of opinion but at de same time I need him to be duly tried tru de court bf dey let him get about his activities……I am really not trying to incite any debate on racism or class but if he were black instead, wud he be granted all dis favor of travelling or say he was from a poor background or even middle n didn’t hav dat fame, wud he get this treatment? …….why on heaven’s beautiful planet are some treated like they r de ones who created de universe n others r here to watch them get all dis unfair treatment……..how is he allowed to go and earn an income when Steenkamp, de girl he shot is not there to earn income to support her family or herself? In dis whole thing, they hv totally shut the girl’s family out, their feelings or how they will deal with the loss when they keep hearing pistorius in the news………I find this interesting to say the least…….ok, let him go n earn income den to probably come n get himself off without proper cross examination……….Na de girl family I di sorry…….
Let them know that what is good for the goose is good for the gander! Reeva’s family has to at least feel a passable tase int heir mouths after this thing. Because he’s a star he can fly, if na hungry man do am, petrol price go rise
hmmm…..okay lets see what happens next
Africa my Africa…Africa of whom my grandmother met…at the bank of the distance river…I have never knew you but your blood flow in my veins….Sometimes I just wish I could live in UK forever….African is too backward and indeed a lawless continent…What a shame?
Please complete the poem naw, used to recite it in school like water….you brought back a lot of memories with that poem…Thanks
hi kokoqueen, i used to love that poem…… but not anymore as the present state of our continent and our international positioning is a matter of great concern, Africa urgently needs reformers and aggressive revolutions for the change we seek.
ALLEGEDLY shot his girlfriend.
some people like to correct without thinking. What is alleged in this? He shot her! Confam! They are just fighting about the details
Someone say flight risk?! Hmm,
the girl friend family must be very upset