Oscar Pistorius sentenced to 6 years in prison for murder

A judge in a Pretoria, South Africa court room sentenced Pistorius to six years in prison on Wednesday.

“Our courts are courts of law, not courts of public opinion”, Masipa said during the ruling.

“He’s a fallen hero, he has lost his career and he is ruined financially”, Masipa said, according to the Associated Press.

The former gold-medal-winning Paralympian will be eligible to apply for parole in three years, so it is possible he will only serve half his sentence.

The same judge originally convicted him of manslaughter in 2014 after months of hearings, but a higher court reversed that to murder previous year, leading to Wednesday’s sentencing. Overcome with emotion, the athlete wept uncontrollably as his affidavit was read, denying that he meant to kill his girlfriend, whom he claimed to love dearly. Pistorius’s legs were amputated below the knees when he was 11 months old because of a congenital defect.

But she said there were mitigating factors, raising examples like Pistorius trying to save Ms Steenkamp’s life in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

To appeal would leave Pistorius open to the possibility of a higher sentence if the decision went against him.

Pistorius, 29, hugged his family before being taken out of the court in Pretoria to begin serving his sentence. “He cannot be at peace, ” she added.

Legal experts, meanwhile, expressed shock at the length of the sentence. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel was unamused by the athlete’s vulnerability plea and asked for a minimum of 15 years.

Back on the running track, Pistorius makes history as the first amputee athlete to compete at the world championships.

Pistorius or “Blade Runner” seemed to be on a winning streak until 14 February 2013 when neighbours called the police complaining about a “bloodcurdling” noise at 1 a.m. who found a lifeless Reeva Steenkamp with gunshot wounds.

There was no immediate response to the sentencing from the Steenkamp family. He was hoping Pistorius would be sentenced to 10 to 12 years, not six, particularly since the earlier manslaughter conviction had already carried a five-year sentence.

Members of the Women’s League of the ruling African National Congress, who attended the trial in support of Steenkamp, decried the sentence. On the night of the murder, Pistorius was not the powerful Olympian of global fame, but a terrified and vulnerable man stumbling in the dark, she said.

In 2014, Pistorius was acquitted of murder by Judge Masipa following a dramatic seven-month trial.

“It’s not enough”, she said.

Back in 2013, shortly after Oscar Pistorius made his famous appearance at the London 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home.