The South African Paralympic Sprinter Oscar Pistorius gets a six years imprisonment for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp, it was announced today. During the court session, Judge Thokozile Masipa said mitigating circumstances, such as rehabilitation and remorse, outweighed aggravating factors for deviating from the prescribed 15-year sentence for murder.
Six-time Paralympic gold medalist for South Africa had been facing 15 years in jail after he shot his girlfriend Steenkamp four times through a locked toilet day on Valentine’s Day in 2013.
In the verdict given by the Judge Masipa, the Judge agreed that there were “substantial and compelling reasons” not to imprison the Paralympian for the amount of time the prosecution had called for.
The South African was originally convicted of culpable homicide, or manslaughter, in 2014, but was found guilty of murder by an appeals court in 2015, a crime which has a minimum 15 years imprisonment under South African law.