Oscar Pistorius sentenced to six years in prison for murder

Oscar Pistorius arrives at the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa Wednesday, July 6, 2016. A South Africa judge is expected to announce Pistorius’ new sentence after his conviction was changed to murder for shooting girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. AP

PRETORIA, South Africa — Oscar Pistorius was sentenced six years for murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, CNN reported Wednesday (Manila time).

Earlier, Associated Press reported Judge Thokozile Masipa began with the background to her decision of Pistorius’ sentence. The double-amputee Olympian received six years jail term for shooting Steenkamp in 2013.

Masipa asked Pistorius to sit on his wooden bench in the Pretoria courtroom on Wednesday while she explained the reasons for her decision, AP said in its report.

The judge said she considered a variety of factors, including the interests of society and those of the victims, as well as themes of crime deterrence and rehabilitation of perpetrators.

Steenkamp’s parents, Barry and June, sat on the other side of the courtroom, which was packed with journalists and other observers.

Pistorius was initially acquitted of Steenkamp’s murder by Masipa at a trial in 2014. He served a year in jail for manslaughter but his conviction was changed to murder by South Africa’s Supreme Court last year.

Pistorius shot Steenkamp through a toilet cubicle door at his home, and claimed he mistook her for an intruder. Prosecutors said the athlete killed his girlfriend intentionally after an argument.

The fact that the killing was purportedly a mistake, in Pistorius’ account, “does not in any way make the offense any less serious,” Masipa said Wednesday.

Masipa also noted testimony by defense witnesses during sentencing hearings that Pistorius was suffering from mental problems and was effectively a “broken man,” after the killing, and that he wanted to give back to society by assisting underprivileged children in sports programs at a number of South African schools.

Masipa also delved into Pistorius’ childhood, recalling defense testimony that his mother’s reported anxiety over crime made him anxious as well, and that her death when he was a teenager left him feeling abandoned. She also commented on the year he spent in jail after initially being convicted of manslaughter. She said Pistorius now has an aversion to guns, a dramatic contrast to the fact that he used to avidly collect firearms before he killed Steenkamp. TVJ

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