By Thomas Hartleb
Pretoria – Oscar Pistorius is expected to hear his sentence for murdering Reeva Steenkamp when he appears in the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday.
His disability and the year he has already spent in jail would be among the factors Judge Thokozile Masipa could use to justify deviating from the minimum of 15 years for murder, a lawyer not involved in the case said on Tuesday.
“My gut feeling is that he’ll get 10 years,” advocate Marius du Toit said.
On December 3 last year, the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered that the former paralympic athlete be sentenced afresh, after it overturned Masipa’s finding that he was guilty of culpable homicide. It replaced her verdict with one of murder.
During sentencing proceedings in June, prosecutor Gerrie Nel asked Masipa to send Pistorius to jail for a minimum of 15 years as he intentionally killed Steenkamp.
He said Pistorius had still not shown remorse for murdering the model and law graduate on February 14, 2013. He had failed to take the court into his confidence and reveal his reasons for firing the four shots that killed her. Instead he gave an interview to broadcaster ITV. Nel said this was disrespectful to the court and to the Steenkamps.
Barry Roux, for Pistorius, said he was a vulnerable man with an anxiety disorder, and was 1.50m tall on his stumps. Pistorius confronted what he believed was an intruder hiding in his bathroom, in the dark, at 03:00 that day in February, Roux said on June 15. He was still portrayed as a gold-medal winner; a strong, ambitions man who was 1.84m tall. “That perception perfectly attaches to the I-wanted-to-kill theory.”
Masipa also ruled that six photos of Steenkamp taken at the scene of the crime could be published. Nel made the request, following Barry Steenkamp’s testimony that he wanted the world to see what Pistorius did to his daughter. He said he hoped it would prevent similar crimes. – News24
Pistorius to be sentenced on Wednesday for 2013 murder of girlfriend
By James Macharia
JOHANNESBURG, July 6 (Reuters) – South African paralympic gold medallist Oscar Pistorius will be sentenced to jail on Wednesday for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013, but for how long depends largely on how the judge will weigh the role of his disability in the killing.
Pistorius, 29, was found guilty of murdering Steenkamp by an appeals court last December. He had initially received a five-year sentence for a manslaughter conviction in 2014, a ruling that was decried as too lenient by women’s groups.
#OscarPistorius murder carries a minumum sentence of 15 years, Judge Masipa expected to hand down a shorter period of imprisonment
— Ulrich Roux (@ulrichroux) July 6, 2016
The athlete had the lower part of his legs amputated when he was a baby, and his lawyers have argued that his physical disability and mental stress should be considered as mitigating circumstances to reduce his sentence.
During the hearings, his defence lawyer asked Pistorius to walk on his stumps to show the difficulty he faced dealing with the threat of an intruder.
But the state says he has shown no remorse and has called for him to receive no less than the minimum sentence for murder.
Some rights groups have said Pistorius, a wealthy white man and international celebrity, has received preferential treatment compared to others without his status or wealth.
Pistorius was freed from prison last October after almost a year behind bars to serve out the remainder of his term under house arrest on his uncle’s house in a wealthy suburb of Pretoria.
Read also: Biznews Classic: Oscar Pistorius’ version of events. Brilliant summary.
In December however, the Supreme Court upgraded his conviction to murder on appeal.
The original trial judge, Thokozile Masipa, will deliver the sentence at the Pretoria High Court.
Johannesburg-based lawyer and legal analyst Ulrich Roux said Masipa would have to balance any mitigating circumstances against the seriousness of his crime.
“For her it’s a delicate balancing act,” said Roux, adding that either the defence or prosecution could mount a legal challenge if they felt that the sentence was lenient or harsh.
In a television interview with British broadcaster ITV aired in June, his first since the shooting, an emotional Pistorius said that Steenkamp would want him to go free.
“I don’t want to go back to jail. I don’t want to have to waste my life sitting there,” Pistorius told ITV, statements which caused an uproar on social media.
Oscar Pistorius who told television interviewer he doesn't want to "waste my life sitting there" today will know how much time he will waste
— Sure Kamhunga (@sure_kamhunga) July 6, 2016
Manelisi Wolela, a spokesman at the Department of Correctional Services, said Pistorius would be taken to jail immediately after the sentencing.
Oscar Pistorius Faces Prison as Judge Decides Murder Sentence
by
(Bloomberg) — Oscar Pistorius may return to prison on Wednesday when South African High Court Judge Thokozile Masipa is scheduled to hand down the sentence for murdering his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day three years ago.
During hearings last month, defense attorney Barry Roux said Pistorius, a 29-year-old double amputee, felt anxious and vulnerable, and was “guilty of being irrational” when he fired four hollow-point bullets through his toilet door, thinking Steenkamp was an intruder. He requested a sentence of correctional supervision. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel, arguing for a minimum of 15 years in jail, said the fact that Pistorius armed himself with the intention for shooting whomever was in the bathroom suggested he meant to the kill the person.
“I think between 10-12 years should be the ballpark,” Marius du Toit, a criminal-defense lawyer at Du Toit Attorneys, said of the possible jail sentence. “It’s rather tough to call it because both sides really did their best.”
Masipa originally convicted Pistorius of manslaughter. In December, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that he was guilty of murder, citing “errors of law” in the first verdict. The Constitutional Court decided on March 3 that Pistorius couldn’t appeal the murder conviction.
The Oscar Pistorius trial by numbers https://t.co/BP0mnmZwG8
— Telegraph Breaking News (@TelegraphNews) July 5, 2016
Blade Runner
Known as the Blade Runner because of his J-shaped prosthetic blades, Pistorius was granted 10,000-rand ($680) bail and ordered to remain under house arrest. He’s been serving part of his previous five-year sentence for culpable homicide at his uncle’s home.
The sentencing hearings from June 13-15 included testimony from Steenkamp’s father, Barry, describing suffering a stroke after learning of his daughter’s death and saying Pistorius “has to pay for what he did.” Witnesses for the defense said Pistorius was “broken” and should be hospitalized rather than jailed. Roux had the athlete walk in front of the court without his prosthetic legs to demonstrate his vulnerability.
Du Toit said both sides presented convincing testimony.
“Steenkamp testifying was golden, but similarly having Oscar parade on his stumps was also good,” he said.
Pistorius won six Paralympic gold medals and was the first double-amputee runner to compete at the Olympic Games. He was born without fibula in both legs, which were amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old.
