The paralympic star will spend five years behind bars.
After a trial that gripped South Africa and beyond, last month Oscar Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14 2013.
That verdict by by Judge Thokozile Masipa left open a huge range of possible sentences for the athlete and a sentencing hearing began last week, which heard a raft of legal arguments. Pistorius’ defence said that he should not be imprisioned, arguing for house arrest.
The prosecution said that the death of Reeva Steenkamp had ‘ruined’ the Steenkamp family and argued for a custodial sentence.
Today, Judge Masipa delivered her verdict and she had already hinted that she considered a jail term appropriate for the crime committed when she said this morning that the South African prison system could deal with Pistorius’ special needs.
Throughout the sentencing this morning, Judge Masipa stressed the need for an appropriate sentence and in the end, she decreed that Pistorius should be sentenced to five years in prison for culpable homicide.
He was also sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for the other charge of the gun offence, and that will run concurrently with the other charge.
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