PARALYMPIC athlete Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to five years in prison. Judge Thokozile Masipa announced her decision after the prosecution called for 10 years in jail and the defence pleaded for house arrest and community service.
Pistorius was also sentenced to three years wholly suspended for five years on condition that he isn’t found guilty of similar crime.
Masipa acquitted the double amputee sprinter of the more serious charge of murder over Reeva Steenkamp’s death. She found him guilty of culpable homicide, for which the punishment can range from a fine to jail time.
Pistorius claims he shot Steenkamp four times through a locked bathroom door at his upmarket Pretoria home after he mistakenly believed she was an intruder.
In her sentencing Masipa said she’d considered all evidence, submissions, purposes of punishments and the severity of the crime.
