South African Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, 29, has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
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Pistorius maintained that he killed Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and reality TV star, by mistake thinking she was an intruder hiding in the bathroom of his home early Valentine’s Day 2013. “That application as we’ve seen before can take a lengthy period of time, but at least three years at this stage”, said criminal defence attorney Ulrich Roux.
The time that Pistorius already served in prison is not subtracted from his new sentence, which may have contributed to the judge’s relatively lenient decision, say legal experts.
He expected Pistorius would serve “between half and two-thirds of the sentence” before applying for parole. Pistorius’ lawyer Andrew Fawcett said he would not appeal the term.
In addressing Pistorius, the double amputee who competed at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, she said: “Although a custodial sentence is a proper sentence, I am of a view that a long term of imprisonment will not serve justice in this matter”. He served 10 months in prison on that conviction before being released to house arrest in August 2015-he’s since been living at a relative’s home in Pretoria.
“It’s an insult to the women of South Africa”, Jacqui Mofokeng, spokeswoman of the ruling ANC party’s women’s league, told AFP outside the court.
While he immediately went to prison on his original manslaughter charge, his charges were just changed to murder due to a December court appeal and he was sentenced to six years, which is nine whole years less than the 15-year minimum sentencing for murder in South Africa.
The athlete was initially found guilty of manslaughter, however, the verdict was upgraded to murder on appeal.
Sky’s Special Correspondent, Alex Crawford, said the initial reaction of Reeva Steenkamp’s family was that Judge Masipa’s sentence was “fair”.
At the same time, the Commission for Gender Equality says the six-year jail term handed to Oscar Pistorius will set a wrong precedent.
The National Prosecution Authority said no decision had been made on whether to appeal for a longer sentence, but expressed its disappointment.
“The normal procedure is that he has to do a minimum of 50 percent, according to the way Correctional Services work it out, you then become eligible for parole”.
“The life of the accused shall also never be the same”.
“He’s a fallen hero who has lost his career and is ruined financially”, the judge said.
She added the Steenkamp family had suffered real pain following Reeva’s death, but she said there was a public “misperception” that Pistorius had meant to kill her.
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Steenkamp’s parents, Barry and June, were present in the courtroom, which was packed with relatives of both Pistorius and Steenkamp, journalists and other observers.
