Oscar Pistorius sentenced to 6 years in jail for murder of girlfriend

South Africa: 29 year old former South African Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.

Pistorius who appeared at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday, repeatedly shot the 29-year-old model through a bathroom cubicle door after she barricaded herself in the bathroom of his home in Pretoria on February 2013, but the double amputee Olympic runner claims that he thought he was shooting at an intruder when he killed Steenkamp..

He was freed from prison in Pretoria in October last year after serving one year of a five-year term for charges of manslaughter but the charges were upgraded by an appeals court to murder, which has a mandatory sentence of 15 years.

In her ruling, Judge Thokozile Masipa said she had to “determine if there are ‘substantial and compelling circumstances existed allowing her to give him a lesser sentence.’

“I have confined myself to what I consider strictly necessary although I’ve had regard to all the evidence as well as submissions placed before this court,” she said.

“Pistorius has no previous convictions. He is a renowned athlete ... He attended both primary and high school in Pretoria When he was in grade nine, his mother passed on... he felt the loss deeply,” she said.

“The fact that Pistorius thought Reeva was an intruder does not make the crime less serious,” she added.

She said that the crime of murder was a serious offence.

“The interests of society demand that people who commit serious crimes such as murder be punished severely,” she said.

Judge Masipa said there was “not a piece of evidence before the court that supports this perception”, that there was a fall out between Pistorius and Steenkamp.
She also added that there was “no indication at all that the deceased was in abusive relationship at all”.

“It is my view that it must be one of the most difficult things for any accused to have to face the victims of his crime and to apologise,” she said.

“It is highly improbable therefore, that the accused would persist in his request to meet the parents of the deceased and ask for forgiveness if he was not genuinely remorseful.”

Masipa said the court was compelled to consider the fact that the accused successfully completed the rehabilitation programs while in prison even though it was for a lesser crime of manslaughter instead of murder.

Judge Masipa adjourned for a recess to enable both sides time to decide if they want to appeal her sentence.

Pistorius was immediately jailed.