It will come one year from the date of his prison sentence, but Oscar Pistorius is going home. He may be going back for a lot longer.
The South African Parole Review Board finally granted double-amputee Olympic sprinter his release from Kgosi Mampuru II prison into house arrest, beginning Oct. 20, The Guardian reported.
Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide in the Valentine's Day 2013 shooting of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria, South Africa, home. The sentence, handed down on Oct. 21, 2014, was for five years.
While all terms of Pistorius' transfer were not released, the South Africa Department of Correctional Services indicated that Pistorius would have to continue to receive psychotherapy and would not be allowed to possess a firearm, The Guardian added.
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Pistorius will have two weeks at home before he must go back to court to face the prosecutors' appeal of his culpable homicide charge on Nov. 3.
The state will argue to have the 2012 Olympian's verdict changed from culpable homicide to murder, which carries a minimum 15-year sentence.
"I think the chances are pretty good that the appeals court will rule in favor of the state and overturn the verdict," Ulrich Roux, a criminal lawyer in Johannesburg, told The Guardian. "He is faced with the unusual circumstance that he's released on house arrest and then the court could find him guilty of murder and he'll have to return to prison."
Pistorius was scheduled to be released to house arrest in August as South African law allows prisoners house-arrest eligibility after serving one-sixth of their sentence. South Africa justice minister Michael Masutha, however, blocked that release.
The 'Blade Runner' will stay at his uncle's mansion, but another lawyer told The Guardian not to refer to the transfer as "parole."
"He's not 'out' on parole ... he's having his sentence converted to a house arrest sentence," criminal lawyer David Dadic said. "He's now confined to a house for a period. They'll confine him essentially to what he would be doing in prison but in the confines of his own house."
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