Paralympic athlete, serving six years for murder of Reeva Steenkamp, moves to correctional centre ‘in line with his needs’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been transferred to a jail adapted for disabled prisoners to serve the rest of his sentence for murdering his girlfriend, a South African official has said.

The Department of Correctional Services said the double amputee was moved from Kgosi Mampuru II prison in the capital Pretoria to Attridgeville correctional centre, just outside the city.

“The transfer was in line with his special needs,” department spokesman Singabakho Nxumalo told Agence France-Presse. “The new prison caters for people with special needs: it has been revamped to include facilities like bath tubs.”

The smaller facility holds convicts serving sentences of up to six years.

In July, Pistorius, 29, was given a six-year jail term after an appeals court upgraded his manslaughter conviction to murder.

He had earlier been given a five-year jail term and released on bail after one year.

Prosecutors are still trying to lengthen his sentence, which they have described as “shockingly lenient and disturbingly inappropriate”.

The Paralympian shot Reeva Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013. He has always maintained that he mistook her for an intruder.

He fired four high-calibre bullets through a locked toilet cubicle inside his upmarket home in Pretoria, killing Steenkamp.