But in December 2015, South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeals overturned that conviction and found him guilty of murder, finding that he must have know that he would likely kill whomever was behind the bathroom door, even if he didn’t know it was Steenkamp. The athlete had the lower part of his legs amputated when he was a baby.
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Pistorius maintained he killed the 29-year-old model and reality TV star after he mistook her for an intruder, but the prosecution called it a deliberate act after the two had an argument.
Judge Masipa, who had earlier convicted Pistorius of manslaughter, a charge that was later upgraded by a higher court, pointed to the difficulty of imposing a sentence that “satisfies every relevant interest,” calling Pistorius a “fallen hero” and a “good candidate for rehabilitation”.
Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday for the murder of his girlfriend, and the judge who handed down the ruling immediately came under fire as an “embarrassment to the justice system”.
Disgraced sportsman Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to six years in prison for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Pistorius has already served one year in jail over his previous conviction.
Pistorius remains in a holding cell where he will be taken straight to prison.
Pistorius, who pleaded not guilty at his trial in 2014, has always denied killing Steenkamp in a rage, saying he was trying to protect her.
“Although a custodial sentence is the proper sentence, I am of the view that a long term imprisonment will not serve justice in this matter”, Judge Masipa said. “It devastated us”, Barry Steenkamp said via CNN.
In South Africa, the minimum sentence for murder is 15 years in prison. He served one year of that sentence before being placed under house arrest at his uncle’s mansion in Pretoria, and he had some freedom of movement outside the home during certain hours.
The judge told the court the public expected the decision to reflect the severity of the crime, but said the courts must ensure their sentences were legitimate reflections. However, the judge made a decision to give Pistorius a lesser punishment due to mitigating factors.
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State lawyers described the original sentence as “shockingly light, inappropriate” and said “not enough emphasis was placed on the horrendous manner” in which she died.
