Oscar Pistorius sentenced to 6 years in prison
Convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.
The minimum prison sentence for murder in South Africa is 15 years.
The ruling came from Judge Thokozile Masipa, after three days hearing arguments from both the state and Pistorius’ defence on the matter in June.
Both the prosecution and defence stood firm in their arguments, with state prosecutor Gerrie Nel calling for a full murder sentence. On defence, Barry Roux argued that Pistorius’ vulnerability as a double amputee could not be ignored, and asked for a reduced sentence based on mitigating circumstances.
Judge Masipa said that the court could not ignore the mitigating circumstances, and cited previous case law showing the reasoning behind a reduced sentence. She added that, while the case had drawn massive public interest, it was not the court’s duty to satisfy the public.
The court had a duty to sentence based on the facts and the evidence, not public opinion, she said. Pistorius had already served 12 months, was a first-time offender, and was not likely to re-offend, she said.
The previous ruling
Pistorius was initially convicted of culpable homicide in September 2014, but the ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal in December 2015 and replaced with a murder conviction.
Pistorius fired shots into a closed bathroom stall on Valentine’s Day 2013, in which Steenkamp had been hiding. According to the former paralympian’s account, he believed Steenkamp was still in the bedroom, and it was a burglar he was shooting at.
Pistorius’ defence had argued that his disability had made him feel vulnerable, and the shooting was an action to protect himself and Steenkamp from potential harm.
However, the state argued that Pistorius knew Steenkamp was in the stall, and that he had attacked her following an argument. The state provided evidence of Pistorius’ troubled history with gun control, having previously discharged live rounds out of a car and in the middle of the restaurant.
Judge Masipa ultimately ruled in 2014 that while Pistorius had known his bullets would likely kill someone, the evidence did not show that his intent was to kill Steenkamp as the state laid out, making it a case of culpable homicide rather than direct murder.
At the time, she said in her ruling: “There is no basis for this court to make the inference that the accused wanted to kill the deceased…. The conduct of the accused shortly after the incident is inconsistent with someone who had wanted to commit murder.”
Masipa ruled that Pistorius could not have foreseen that “either the deceased or anyone else for that matter” might have been killed when he fired shots at the door.
The SCA disagreed, however. In overturning the culpable homicide ruling, the SCA said that Pistorius should have foreseen the deadly impact his four bullets would have in a small bathroom.
The court said he fired four shots into the stall, and the intent was obviously to kill whoever was behind it.
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