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Second day of Oscar Pistorius’s proceedings begin

The second day of sentencing proceedings for paralympian Oscar Pistorius's culpable homicide-conviction began in the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday.


Prosecutor Gerrie Nel began with his cross-examination of Pistorius’s manager Petrus Van Zyl.

Nel started by asking him about the scope of his job and other athletes that he also managed. He wanted to know if other athletes also supported charities, which Van Zyl confirmed.

“I think based also on legislation… a lot of companies and brands have specifically gone that route also,” said Van Zyl.

Nel asked him if that included sportsmen.

“That is indeed correct,” Van Zyl replied.

The manager told the court on Monday about Pistorius’s planned retirement in 2017, before the shooting, and his involvement with various charities.

Pistorius made a low-key arrival earlier, unlike Monday where he was accompanied by police officers.

He caught the media waiting outside the court off-guard.

“So when did he stop? How did he just zoom past?” a photographer asked.

A man who came to the court to see Pistorius said: “That was so quick. I almost missed it.”

The paralympian walked into the court room by himself. He smiled as he spoke to his lawyer Brian Webber.

His psychologist Lore Hartzenberg, who testified on Monday gave Pistorius a hug.

In court on Tuesday were Pistorius’s siblings Aimee and Carl, his father Henke, ex-girlfriend Samantha Taylor and her mother Patricia, and his friend businessman Kenny Kunene.

Reeva Steenkamp’s parents Barry and June, her Johannesburg “family” the Myers and former soccer player Marc Batchelor were also in attendance.

Earlier a man carrying a noose stood outside the court. He did not want to give his name, but said he was there to highlight the country’s justice system.

“The death penalty was in South Africa for a long time,” he said.

“The justice system must give harsher sentences. That’s the bottom line,” he said before leaving.

On September 12, Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide for the Valentine’s Day 2013 shooting of Steenkamp, in his Pretoria townhouse.

The court found him not guilty of murder.

Pistorius shot Steenkamp through the locked door of the toilet, apparently thinking she was an intruder about to emerge and attack him. She was hit in the hip, arm, and head.

Pistorius was found guilty of firing a pistol under a table at Tasha’s restaurant in Johannesburg in January 2013 and not guilty of shooting through the open sunroof of a car in Modderfontein on September 30, 2012.

Sapa

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