Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to six years for murder of his late girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
Judge Masipa has sentenced Oscar Pistorius to six years’ imprisonment for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.
Masipa said the mitigating factors in the case outweighed the aggravating factors and that factors existed to deviate from the prescribed sentence for murder.
She said there were “substantial and compelling reasons” to deviate from the 15-year minimum sentence for murder, citing as one factor the continuing misperception that Pistorius had intended to kill his girlfriend.
The former athlete served one year in jail after the High Court in Pretoria found him guilty of culpable homicide, but the appeal court overturned that finding last year and convicted him of murder.
Pistorius maintains that he shot and killed Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013 in the mistaken belief that she was an intruder.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel had argued that Pistorius should go to prison for no less than 15 years, while defence advocate Barry Roux suggested a non-custodial sentence.
Pistorius has been taken down to the cells, his sister Aimee has left the court in tears.
It is not clear yet how much of the six-year sentence he will be compelled to serve in prison before he will once again be eligible for parole.
It is notable that Pistorius’ original sentence, when he was initially found guilty of culpable homicide, was five years. He served 10 months of that in prison before being eligible for parole under house arrest.