Oscar Pistorius trial: Timeline of his fall from Olympic glory to six-year prison sentence

Pretoria: Oscar Pistorius, the South African double-amputee sprinter who shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013, was sentenced on Wednesday to six years in prison . In December, the country’s Supreme Court of Appeal threw out his earlier conviction of the lesser crime of culpable homicide, for which Pistorius had served one year of a five-year jail sentence. [caption id=“attachment_2879038” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Oscar Pistorius. Getty Images[/caption] Here is a timeline of events that began with the shooting on Valentine’s Day 2013. - 2013 - 14 February: Police arrest the double-amputee Olympic sprinter for killing Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, who was shot four times at his Pretoria home. 15 February: Pistorius bursts into tears as he is charged, denying murder “in the strongest terms”. 19 February: Pistorius claims in an affidavit he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder. He fired through a locked bathroom door in what prosecutors term “premeditated” murder. 22 February: Pistorius is granted bail. - 2014 - 3 March: The trial opens in Pretoria before an army of journalists from around the world, with the testimony of a neighbour who tells the court she heard “terrible screams” from a woman. Ten days later, Pistorius vomits when a picture of Steenkamp’s body is flashed on the court’s television screens. 7-15 April: Pistorius takes the stand and begins with a tearful apology to Steenkamp’s family. This is followed by five days of often intense cross-examination, marked by bouts of tears and breaks in the session. Pistorius steadfastly denies any intention to kill Steenkamp. 30 June: After a six-week break, a panel of three psychiatrists and a psychologist conclude that Pistorius does not suffer from mental illness. 12 September: Pistorius is found guilty of culpable homicide or manslaughter. 21 October: Judge Thokozile Masipa sentences Pistorius to a maximum of five years in jail. The athlete is immediately taken to Pretoria prison. - 2015 - 20 October: Pistorius is allowed out of prison after just one year to spend the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. 3 December: The Supreme Court of Appeal convicts Pistorius of murder, saying his testimony was “vacillating and untruthful”. 8 December: Pistorius is released on bail pending sentencing, and remains under house arrest. - 2016 - 11 January: Pistorius makes last-ditch attempt with South Africa’s top court to overturn his murder conviction. 2 March: Pistorius loses his final bid to appeal his murder conviction. 6 July: He is sentenced to six years in jail for the murder.