Pistorius spent the last few months living under house arrest in his uncle’s mansion after initially serving one year of a five-year prison sentence for manslaughter.
Advertisement
However, his sentence is considerably less than the minimum jail term of 15 years for murder under South African law. She added, “I am of the view that a long term in prison will not serve justice in this matter”.
She ordered a recess to enable prosecutors and Pistorius’ lawyers to decide if they wanted to appeal the sentence.
Besides the obvious advantage that goes along with his status as an Olympic athlete, Judge Thokozile Masipa ruled that Pistorius’ displays of remorse, as well as his inability to fire a warning shot and his “anxious nature”, contributed to the light sentence.
Barry and June Steenkamp’s lawyer told his clients and the ANCWL to remain dignified in their silence following the sentencing of Oscar Pistorius for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp.
On Valentine’s Day 2013, Pistorius fired four times through a bathroom door, hitting Steenkamp, three times.
In her ruling Wednesday, Masipa said that although the Steenkamps had suffered a great loss, Pistorius’ life and career were also in ruins.
She noted that Pistorius was a first-time offender who had shown himself to be a good candidate for rehabilitation.
“Pistorius’ legal team has confirmed that he will not be appealing his sentence but the state has two weeks to indicate whether it will fight for a longer jail term”.
She said that the athlete would have to serve a custodial sentence because his conviction had been upgraded from manslaughter to murder.
“She definitely erred on the side of caution with a lenient sentence”, he said of Masipa.
Pistorius, known as the “Blade Runner” due to his carbon fibre prosthetic running blades, was a figurehead of Paralympic sport, having won six gold medals across three Games.
Ms Steenkamp’s parents had previously expressed disappointment with the initial sentence, an opinion shared by many South Africans.
The track star, who had the lower part of his legs amputated when he was a baby, was freed from prison last October after nearly a year behind bars. The Constitutional Court decided on March 3 that Pistorius couldn’t appeal the murder conviction.
Advertisement
“The law didn’t take its course”, Masanabo said.
