Oscar Pistorius, a South African sprint runner who was the first athlete to compete at the Paralympic and Olympic games, has finally received his sentencing for the murder of his girlfriend back in 2013.
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Some rights groups have said Pistorius, a wealthy white man and worldwide celebrity, has received preferential treatment compared with others lacking his status or wealth.
“He can not be at peace”.
A longer prison term than that handed down, according to Masipa, would “not serve justice”.
He said the sentence is too light because Pistorius was sentenced to nearly the same sentence – five years – for his earlier manslaughter conviction.
The 29-year-old, who stood impassively as the sentence was read out, hugged members of his legal team and chatted briefly with his sister Aimee before police led him away. 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 athlete was initially found guilty of manslaughter, however, the verdict was upgraded to murder on appeal.
It wasn’t what Steenkamp’s family or the thousands of people who religiously followed the development of case expected. “We’ll leave that to the state”, he told reporters.
Oscar shot and killed Reeva on Valentine’s Day 2013 at his home in South Africa, and has since maintained that it was all an accident, as he mistook her for an intruder. Prosecutors can appeal for a heavier sentence, but have not said yet if they will.
“How are we going to be satisfied if we have been fighting for 15 years and we get six?” said NPA spokeswoman Bulelwa Makeke.
With his long legal battle perhaps still not at an end, some campaigners called for a tougher punishment.
“The judgment is an insult to women”.
Pistorius had been convicted of murder by an appeals court past year, having initially been found guilty of manslaughter in September 2014.
Pistorius, dressed in black tie, white shirt and black jacket, stared straight ahead in court during Wednesday’s televised proceedings.
If jailed on Wednesday, he would likely return to the hospital section of Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria, separated from regular inmates.
Masipa said she had considered both mitigating and aggravating circumstances, concluding that the former outweighed the latter.
“The life of the accused will never be the same”. He is a fallen hero, who has lost his career, and been ruined financially.
As you can guess, Pistorius’ family and supporters fully believe he was acting out of confusion and self-defense (despite the fact that she was unarmed and had literally nothing to hurt him with) and have expressed admiration for his “bravery” and remorse.
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“I say anything between eight months to 10 months, the parole board would have to decide about it”.
