WHAT'S NEXT FOR OSCAR?

After more than 9 years behind bars he walks out of prison, but strict conditions are attached to his freedom

- JANA MARX & ISABEL VENTER

THE trial may have been nine years ago but details are easy to remember. A man often in tears, a green sick bucket between his legs, pleading plaintively to "my lady, the judge. And later, walking unsteadily around the courtroom on his stumps in a desperate bid for leniency during his sentencing hearing.

The Oscar Pistorius case was practically all South Africans could talk about - it was our equivalent of the OJ Simpson trial, a riveting drama playing out on live TV, showcasing the downfall of a once-elite athlete.

Then it was off to prison with him, the golden era of the Blade Runner well and truly over. Reeva Steenkamp, the beautiful woman he killed in a burst of bullets behind a toilet door, was gone forever and Oscar had to live with the consequences.

For more than 3000 nights he slept in a cell, swopping the luxury of his home in a high-security Pretoria estate for the austerity of jail.

When he went into prison he was 29, now's he's 37 and an uncertain future lies ahead.

HOME AGAIN

Oscar's uncle, Arnold Pistorius, has confirmed his nephew will live with him and his wife, Lois, at their home in Waterkloof.

"His old room is ready for him, Arnold says. "He used to stay with us often so we just call it his room." 

Oscar stayed at the Pistorius' luxury mansion throughout his trial and when he was briefly released from jail before the appeal court changed his conviction to murder and upped his sentence to 13 years and five months.

Arnold, who has four daughters, has given a written undertaking to the department of correctional services that the Waterkloof premises will be Oscar's fixed abode.

REACTION ON THE OUTSIDE