Pretoria: Double amputee Oscar Pistorius would be highly vulnerable in South Africa’s brutal jails, his disability elevating the risk of poor hygiene and even gang rape, a defence witness claimed yesterday.

Parole officer Annette Vergeer warned that prison would “break” the Paralympian star athlete, as his legal team mounted a fierce last-ditch battle to keep him from going to jail for manslaughter over the killing of his girlfriend last year.