Oscar Pistorius gets 5 years in prison

The South African athlete was sentenced at Pretoria’s High Court for the killing of his girlfriend Ms Steenkamp, after being cleared of murder but convicted of culpable homicide.

In her sentencing, Judge Masipa ruled a non-custodial sentence would send the wrong sentence to the community, but a long sentence would not be appropriate because it would appear to lack mercy.

These are the main points from today’s hearing:

• Athlete won’t appeal sentence, his family confirm

• Steenkamp family say punishment is the right sentence

• The State prosecuting authority has not yet decided whether to appeal against conviction for culpable homicide

• Pistorius is likely to serve ‘one third of sentence’ behind bars

• Paralympian is being held in holding cells at the North Gauteng High Court and is expected to be transferred to Pretoria Central prison

• The Pistorious senctence and Twitter’s conflation of jail time with Steenkamp’s ‘life worth’

Judge Masipa also sentenced the athlete to an additional three years in prison, wholly suspended, the second count of a firearm contravention.

independent.co.uk