Oscar Pistorius has been granted bail ahead of his sentencing for the murder of his girlfriend, although his lawyer has sought permission to appeal the conviction to South Africa’s highest court.

Pistorius, 29, will be sentenced on April 18 after the Supreme Court of Appeal last week threw out his earlier conviction on the lesser charge of culpable homicide for killing Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day, 2013.

He must pay 10,000 rand (approx £456) before December 11 to secure his bail and will continue to be under house arrest in Pretoria after serving one year of his original five-year prison sentence.

It has not been confirmed whether permission has been granted to appeal the sentence and should he fail, he faces the prospect of a minimum 15-year jail sentence for murder, although the term could be shorter if he is released on parole.

“(Pistorius’s bail) affidavit deals… with the basis for the application for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court,” lawyer Barry Roux told the High Court in Pretoria.

Pistorius killed Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, at his home in Pretoria two years ago, saying he mistook her for an intruder when he shot four times through the locked door of his bedroom toilet.